BILL CHARLAP TRIO
And Then Again
Charlap, piano; Peter Washington, bass; Kenny Washington, drums Blue Note 00602465324679 (auditioned as 16/44.1 WAV). 2024. Charlap, prod.; James Farber, Tyler McDiarmid, Geoff Countryman, engs.
PERFORMANCE
SONICS
If there is a jazz group that is money—a slam dunk—it is Bill Charlap’s trio with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington. Their quality standards are reliably beyond reproach. Their work has been well documented, but even though And Then Again is their 11th album, it is more necessary than ever. This ensemble embodies jazz values that are at risk with the passage of time.
The current jazz art form is dynamic and volatile with experimentation. Charlap is an outlier. His boundless creativity occurs within the framework of the great jazz tradition. He plays standards. He expresses his innermost self through the inspired interpretation of timeless songs.
The pieces on this album are especially well chosen. The trio’s ways of engaging with them are deep and diverse.
“All the Things You Are” is many things in five minutes. The opening is meditative, as if Charlap, with his pregnant pauses, is engaged in a real-time act of discovery. His subtle rephrasing reshapes the song. Then the two Washingtons kick into double time and run away with it. Then Charlap turns it into formal block chords. Just before the end, he breaks it open and spills it free. “In Your Own Sweet Way” is unmistakably itself yet reimagined, with new tension and release. “The Man I Love,” that yearning, wistful song, becomes a headlong romp.
With Charlap, the ballads are always best. “Darn That Dream,” “Ghost of a Chance,” and “‘Round Midnight” all come out of that rapt hush that Charlap owns.
And Then Again is an atypical live recording at the Village Vanguard. The mix puts the piano on the left and the drums on the right, with the bass in the middle. The verdict is that it works. It sounds like you’re there.—Thomas Conrad