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It is with no small dosage of irony that highly acclaimed jazz pianists Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes close their dynamic new duo piano album with the timeless standard “Never Will IMarry.” Marry, they have, and happily marry, they do, in musical terms on Double Portrait, a high point in their respective careers, and the first recorded example of what must be considered one of the finest and most empathetic piano duos in jazz history. Double Portrait is a work of significance and depth, but also flows with the casual and organic quality of musicians with an uncommon simpatico, in life as well as in art.
Double Portrait is the latest, and another proud entry, in a series of stellar projects on Blue Note for Charlap in the past decade, including readings of music by Leonard Bernstein and George
Gershwin, and another special family project, with his mother, singer Sandy Stewart. In another musical family tree link, the pianist’s father was famed Broadway composer Moose Charlap.
Charlap the Younger has earned the respect of critics and discerning listeners, and the praise of musicians such as Tony Bennett, whom the pianist has also worked with.
Rosnes, who originally hails from Vancouver, has been a prominent figure in NYC and the international jazz scene for many years. She has recorded fourteen fine albums as a leader, nine of them for Blue Note, and has been the pianist of choice for such artists as Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, JJ Johnson and Bobby Hutcherson. Rosnes is also a founding member of the dynamic SFJAZZ Collective, with whom she performed and recorded for six
years. Both pianists have been praised for representing the upper echelon of contemporary jazz piano aesthetics.
Fittingly, TIME magazine once noted in a review that Charlap “approaches a song the way a lover approaches his beloved. He wants to view it from every angle – melody, harmony, lyrics, verse.” Rosnes was cited by the New York Times as “a virtuoso,” also noting that, in a concert, “no rhythmic inflection went unexplored.”
After marrying in 2007, the couple has subsequently performed live in duo format, and with Double Portrait, says Charlap, “finally, the time came that we were able to set it down for posterity. Itʼs a natural for us, both being admirers of each otherʼs work. The chemistry we have as husband and wife is naturally reflected in our music, and likewise, the chemistry we have as musicians is a part of our lives together.”
Double Portrait winds up being a unique expression of the artistry of each player, and an added third persona rises out of the interactive blend of the two players. For repertoire, the couple selected a diverse yet perfectly coherent range of material to explore and find mutual expression on. While both musicians continue to tend to their personal musical lives and projects, the Charlap Rosnes piano duo persona is now officially an ongoing venture, documented for the first time and for the ages.
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