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Thank You! SM
for such an excellent piece on BC. Been a big fan of his trio as well as his lovely wife RR, for a long time. Happy Holidays!
We adjourned to a restaurant for lunchI'd forewarned Bill Charlap that I would be conducting a Jazz Rorschach Test I'd created for him. Between bites, he gave me quick responses to a list of great songwriters, composers, pianists, and singers I ran by him in no particular order:
Johnny MercerSwing. The American Poet. Genius of language. Every word drips off the notes that he writes.
Irving BerlinAmerica. The center of what it is to be an American songwriter.
Cole PorterSexy. The risk-taker, and the great developmental composer. He's like Beethoven, it's a little cell. The courage to go the places he goes, straight to the heart.
Leonard BernsteinCharisma. New York. Tough and crazy. Wild and generous.
Hoagy CarmichaelAw, shucks. Exceptthat's a persona. Also, the sound of a particular kind of jazz in songwriting. And ruralthough that's something he created.
Stephen SondheimThe great American musical-theater composer of today. An extension of all the people he loves. Brave. The craft.
The BeatlesThe greatest rock'n'roll group of all time. They did everything first. The greatest phrases.
Duke EllingtonThe emancipator. A symbol of African-American genius. And class. And imagination. A new music. An amalgamator.
Rodgers & HartBrahms and heart. And I mean heart like courage. Up against the wall, and living on the edgebecause that's Larry Hart.
Rodgers & HammersteinIt is more about the theater than it is about the song. Transcendence into humanity. The great sweep of Rodgers the composer.
Wayne ShorterLyrical improviserno one makes more of the interval of the octave.
Herbie HancockMaybe the greatest modern jazz pianist. Herbie is Bachhe's the past, present, and future, all at the same time.
Chick CoreaSwashbuckling. Flamenco piano. And the word play.
Dave BrubeckLove, God, and grace. And joy. Whatever that pill is he's taking, I want one of those.
Marian McPartlandSharp, tough, open, witty, courageous, female.
Erroll GarnerSanctified. An orchestra.
Oscar PetersonOverwhelming virtuosity, and not just at the piano but as a musical thinker. The Blues. The Church.
Bill EvansTruth and beauty. He's a giantof any type of art or music. Profound melodic language. Deeply original. Stringent. A colossal mind.
BasieSwing. Dance. The rhythm section. The groove.
Professor LonghairThe blues is American music. He's at the essence of the music.
Tommy FlanaganThe Jazz Poet. He makes it seem so easy.
Shirley HornAahh. The modern-day Billie Holiday. And the greatest accompanist everthat's the way to accompany a singer, the way Shirley played for herself.
Blossom DearieBlossom loved the song. It was all about getting the story across. You go to Blossom, you're going to learn some tunes.
Thelonious MonkPicasso. The architect of modern jazz. And the piano is not a European instrument any more, it's an African instrument.
Art TatumThe greatest piano player of all time, period, bar none. That's the end of it. It's not just the techniqueit's imagination.
Teddy WilsonPerfection. Touch. The door that swings open for modern jazz piano.
Bobby ShortCharisma. Optimism. You are lifted up. He raised your feeling of how great it is to celebrate being a human being. Effervescent.
Matson: You passed.
Thank You! SM
for such an excellent piece on BC. Been a big fan of his trio as well as his lovely wife RR, for a long time. Happy Holidays!
I especially liked Bill Charlap's thoughtful comments on improvisation. My favorite contemporary jazz pianist.
Also, if you're reading this, Mr. Charlap, a big thank you to you and your label for somehow resisting the loudness wars that have infiltrated the jazz genre, a gift to both current and future generations for the opportunity to hear you and your trio with the subtlety, shadow, depth and emotion that the wide dynamic range on your recordings reveals.