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August 6, 2004
TT: A press release I was glad to get
From the 92nd St. Y:NEW YORK, NY: August 5, 2004 – The 92nd Street Y has named jazz pianist and Blue Note recording artist Bill Charlap artistic director of the Jazz in July festival, beginning in the summer of 2005. Dick Hyman, the pianist and arranger who has held the post since the festival's founding in 1985, announced in May that he was stepping down after 20 years. He will continue to direct the Y's annual winter jazz program, Jazz Piano at the Y.
Mr. Hyman enthusiastically endorsed Charlap, who has performed at the festival many times over the last 15 years. Says Hyman, "I can't think of anyone better suited to help move Jazz in July into the next phase of its life than Bill Charlap. He is a tremendously talented pianist and musician who has a terrific relationship with the 92nd Street Y audience. He is also an accomplished musical director who has recorded and performed extensively with his own trio."...
Charlap plans to retain Jazz in July's focus on traditional and mainstream jazz and the festival's commitment to presenting New York's best jazz performers, with some new variations. His preliminary plans include tributes to George Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael and Nat "King" Cole; an evening devoted to – and featuring – a jazz elder statesman whose life and work link his musical generation and influences with the current crop of players; Charlap's own version of what has become a staple of Jazz in July, the annual "piano party," with a half-dozen pianists representing a wide range of styles; and an evening of small-group, "hard-bop" ‘50s and ‘60s jazz featuring the compositions of Kenny Dorham (1924-1972) and Horace Silver (b. 1928). The performers will be a mix of Jazz in July regulars and Charlap colleagues new to the festival.
I approve.
Posted August 6, 2004 11:52 AM
