98 | SEPTEMBER 26 • 2024 
J
N

P

iano music fills the home of Bill Charlap 
and wife Renee Rosnes, both concert 
instrumentalists. Each has a Steinway 
placed in the living room. 
Part of their dual performing talents moves 
into East Lansing on the evening of Oct. 4, when 
Charlap takes the stage with singer and actress 
Dee Dee Bridgewater. It will be one of their many 
shows together; both are Grammy Award winners. 
“Dee Dee and I have been playing in duet for 
a number of years,” said Charlap, who has per-
formed over his career at Michigan venues, includ-
ing Orchestra Hall in Detroit, Hill Auditorium in 
Ann Arbor and a stage presented at the annual 
Detroit Jazz Festival. 
“Everything that Dee Dee and I do is very 
spontaneous and very extemporaneous. It draws 
on everything we are individually and together. 
There’s wonderful chemistry between the two of us 
in terms of running the emotional gamut with the 
way we try to express ourselves musically.
“Dee Dee is a brilliant musician and a great 
singer in control of her instrument,” he says. “She’s 

also a great jazz improviser, a great interpreter of 
a song, a great storyteller, a great actor and a great 
person of the theater.” 
While Charlap does not yet know what num-
bers the two will be presenting, it is likely to be 
a concert that includes songs written by George 
Gershwin and Duke Ellington. It is expected that 
some numbers will be known very well by audi-
ences and some numbers will be known less well. 
Songs written for Broadway by his late father, 
Morris “Moose” Charlap, also could be on the 
program. Those include songs written for Peter 
Pan, The Conquering Hero and Alice Through the 
Looking Glass. 
Charlap said he picks a repertoire of songs that 
tell stories and are from the canon of the great 
songwriters and jazz writers. 
“The piano has always been central in my life,” 
said Charlap, whose Jewish heritage can be traced 
through his dad. “I watched my father play and 
express himself, and I never felt a division between 
myself and the mechanics of the instrument. I was 
lucky to have that sort of blessing.”

What attracts Charlap to jazz is the expression 
of the individual, the sound of the blues, the vocal 
quality, the rhythmic quality and the dimension 
that the music speaks with innovations from 
improvised music.
Charlap has performed with his mom, television 
and recording singer Sandy Stewart. He also teach-
es and is the director of jazz studies at William 
Paterson University in New Jersey.
The pianist, who just finished a two-week run at 
the Village Vanguard in New York City, has recent-
ly released a new recording titled And Then Again. 
He prepared that recording with other members of 
the Bill Charlap Trio, which includes bassist Peter 
Washington and drummer Kenny Washington.
Among the featured songs are “Sometimes I’m 
Happy” and “
All the Things You Are.”
The visiting musician, who has been perform-
ing for about 30 years, has made close to 20 
record albums, including the Grammy-nominated 
Somewhere: Songs of Leonard Bernstein. Traveling 
to stages around the world, the pianist got to know 
his wife during concerts in Japan, and he appeared 
at a music festival in Israel. 
While his two daughters have not chosen 
entertainment careers, his stepson has. Dylan 
Drummond is a guitarist and songwriter the pia-
nist defines as performing “stone cold rock.”
With time off from traveling, Charlap likes to 
watch Gene Wilder films and read. 
Preparing for travel to Michigan, he says he is 
looking forward to the stage experiences with Dee 
Dee Bridgewater. 
“I love Michigan,” he said. “It’s a very hip part 
of the world with very intelligent and artistically 
thinking people. With Dee Dee, chemistry makes 
us blend together. It happens naturally like the 
table of elements. 
“We had the chemistry from the first second 
we played together. I’ve had that with Kenny 
Washington and Peter Washington and, of course, 
with my wife, Renee. 
“Generally, it happens right away, or it doesn’t 
happen at all. You can’t invent it or make it hap-
pen. You have more and more trust and more and 
more risk within the connection. There’s so much 
dimension between what happens with the two of 
us that it becomes a very exhilarating experience 
for me — and I think for the audience.” 

Details
Bill Charlap and Dee Dee Bridgewater will 
perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, at the 
Pasant Theatre in East Lansing. $19-$42. 
(800) WHARTON. whartoncenter.com.

 COURTESY BILL CHARLAP

ARTS&LIFE
MUSIC

Bill Charlap performs on 
stage with singer/actress 
Dee Dee Bridgewater.

SUZANNE CHESSLER

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Pianist Bill Charlap and singer 
Dee Dee Bridgewater to offer jazz 
performance in East Lansing.

