Neranenah, a nonprofit cultural event series formerly known as the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival, is ending its current season with a performance from the Bill Charlap Trio.
The event, An Evening with the Bill Charlap Trio, will take place at the Atlanta HIstory Center’s McElreath Hall at 7 p.m. on March 17. The trio also includes drummer Kenny Washington and bassist Peter Washington and has been playing together since 1997. A two-time Grammy nominee, Charlap has played with the likes of Phil Woods, Tony Bennett, Gerry Mulligan and Wynton Marsalis.
“You’re going to hear a trio that’s been together for close to 30 years that has a vast repertoire,” said Charlap about what audiences can expect during the show. “For maybe the last five years, we’ve kind of been improvising our sets from start to finish, in terms of the pieces that we choose, and the trajectory that we take.”
Ahead of the performance, Rough Draft Atlanta spoke with Charlap about his career. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I know that you grew up in a musical family, and your father was a composer. Was there ever a time that you thought music might not be the career path for you?
Bill Charlap: Well, nobody was pushing me to play or to be a professional musician, but in answer to your question, the short answer is no. There was never a time when I didn’t know that that’s what I would do. It wasn’t a question of being pushed. It was just natural. And it wasn’t a question of anyone saying, we don’t want you to do this, or we do want you to do this. I just did.
However, given that my parents were both artists, there was none of that tension of, gee I don’t know if this is a career plan, you know, that people go through.
Yeah, I feel like people always have stories, when they go into music, about their parents being worried.
Charlap: Sometimes. No, it was more me who was worried! [Laughs] I wanted to make sure…
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