Piano virtuoso and Grammy-Award-Winner Bill Charlap will lead an unforgettable night of music, leaving an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of all who attend.

Join us in McElreath Hall at the Atlanta History Center.

About the Artists

One of the world’s premiere jazz pianists, Bill Charlap, has performed with many leading artists of our time, ranging from Phil Woods and Tony Bennett to Gerry Mulligan and Wynton Marsalis. He is known for his interpretations of American popular songs and has recorded albums featuring the music of Hoagy Carmichael, Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin. Time magazine wrote, “Bill Charlap approaches a song the way a lover approaches his beloved...no matter how imaginative or surprising his take on a song is, he invariably zeroes in on its essence.”

In 1997, Charlap formed the Bill Charlap Trio with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington (no relation), now recognized as one of the leading groups in jazz. Charlap has recorded seven albums for Blue Note Records and received two Grammy Award nominations, for Somewhere: The Songs of Leonard Bernstein and most recently The Bill Charlap Trio: Live at the Village Vanguard.

Charlap is the artistic director of New York City’s Jazz in July Festival at the 92nd Street Y. He has produced several concerts for Jazz at Lincoln Center and an evening of George Gershwin’s music at the Hollywood Bowl.

Peter Washington is perhaps the most recorded bassist of his generation, with a discography of more than 450 recordings.

Born in Los Angeles in 1964, Washington played classical bass as a teen and majored in English literature at University of California in Berkeley, where he played in both the UC Symphony, and the San Francisco Youth Symphony. In 1986, while performing in San Francisco with saxophonist John Handy, he was invited by the legendary Art Blakey to join the Jazz Messengers in New York, and remained a member of the band until 1986. In 1990, Washington became part of the Tommy Flanagan Trio, and toured and recorded with the pianist for the next decade. 

The Brooklyn-born, Staten Island-bred drummer, Kenny Washington, has played behind Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Ahmad Jamal, Ronnie Mathews, Lee Konitz, Betty Carter, Johnny Griffin, Clark Terry, George Cables, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Sonny Stitt, James Spaulding, Phil Woods, Bill Charlap, Bobby Watson, Curtis Lundy, and Tommy Flanagan, to name a few.

A prolific freelancer with an enormous discography, Washington also has a strong interest in jazz history and has written liner notes for and/or helped prepare classic jazz re-releases by Art Blakey and Count Basie, among others. He has also taught jazz drumming at the New School in New York City and worked as an announcer at the New Jersey jazz radio station WBGO.