Pianist Bill Charlap

For about a year and a half, I hosted my own podcast, "The Cool Toddcast," which featured interviews with fellow jazz musicians I believed had the highest level of expertise and were very notable in the profession. It led to an archive that I now keep privately, containing over 90 interviews with such persons. I ended the podcast simply as a choice I made regarding how I managed my time. I became more careful about how I spent my time, and a few things had to give way, so the time spent preparing and producing the podcast each week became a casualty of my new schedule. In any case, I still have the archive, and I occasionally share an episode from it with my paid subscribers as a thank-you for their patronage. But today, I decided to share this with all my readers to give them a sense of the treasure trove of oral history I'm sitting on. So I hope you enjoy this interview that I conducted with pianist Bill Charlap.

Along with esteemed pianist Dick Hyman (now 99 years young but no longer performing publicly), Bill Charlap has the most expansive and deepest understanding of, and peerless ability to perform, the Great American Songbook. I know of no other jazz musician currently performing who has the depth of understanding Bill does, so I was eager to interview him. I think you will find this interview quite engaging. He is such a thoughtful and articulate colleague that I always enjoy my conversations with him on virtually any subject.

I plan to continue releasing individual interviews from my archive over the next several months. They usually last about an hour. If something like this appeals to you, I suggest you join my 81-member-and-growing list of paid subscribers; by supporting my efforts, you may also become a “fly on the wall” as you sit in on the conversations that jazz musicians have. After all, it's a form of living jazz history, and if you're really into it, I think you would find it as fascinating as I did when I put it all together.

[Beyond the Bandstand: Jazz And Lessons From A Life In Motion is a reader-supported publication. To receive additional exclusive posts and support my work (time and effort), please consider becoming a paid subscriber or upgrading your current free subscription to a paid one.]

TC