[Dixielandjazz] American Songbook with Sandy Stewart & Bill Charlap

[Steve Barbone]

Sandy Stewart & Bill Charlap, are among the very best interpreters of The
American Songbook around today. Fans of American Songbook, who are in the
NYC area during the next week, might want to see/hear them.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


The American Songbook as the Family Business

NY TIMES - By STEPHEN HOLDEN - February 17, 2007

To observe the musical rapport between the singer Sandy Stewart and her son,
the pianist Bill Charlap, is to sense a depth of artistic communication
between two musicians that is rare in any area of music. Ms. Stewart and Mr.
Charlap, whose new show, ³Hello, Young Lovers,² at the Oak Room of the
Algonquin Hotel, was timed to coincide with Valentine¹s Day, have the timing
of ballroom dancing partners executing complicated maneuvers with a finesse
that makes it look ridiculously easy.

Their style is minimalist. Where conventional voice-and-piano teams follow a
formula in which the music swells at dramatic moments, Ms. Stewart and Mr.
Charlap use pauses, silences and hushed moments to bring out the interior
lives of songs. On uptempo numbers like ³You Do Something to Me² and ³I¹ve
Got the World on a String,² he usually leads. On ballads like ³I See Your
Face Before Me² and ³The Shadow of Your Smile,² she sets a pace that slows
down as she ruminates on the lyrics, drawing out crucial words that can
almost bring the song to a halt. The more intense the emotion, the quieter
she becomes, as her voice diminishes to a near-hum. At such times, Mr.
Charlap deepens the feeling of suspension by holding back.

Ms. Stewart has a grainy, lived-in alto that resembles the voice of the jazz
singer Carol Sloane. With her aura of solidity and calm, she suggests a tree
that has buried its roots into the stage. As the rain and wind blow through
the branches, the heavy weather registers. At the same time, you sense that
its roots are so deeply embedded that there is no danger of its toppling.

As is usual in Stewart-Charlap shows, Mr. Charlap plays an interlude of solo
piano. On Wednesday it consisted of three songs: ³ ¹S Wonderful,² ³Easy to
Love² and ³All Through the Night.² In the first two songs, energy that had
been held in reserve leapt out of his fingers in extended, hurtling, Art
Tatum-worthy runs wound around rhythmic pirouettes, all executed with a
feathery touch.

Just how much he had held back became apparent in ³All Through the Night,²
an explosion of pianistic fireworks in which every note and chord vibrated
with a gleaming ferocity.

Performances continue through next Saturday at the Oak Room at the Algonquin
Hotel, 59 West 44th Street, Manhattan; (212) 419-9331.