{"id":2958,"date":"2011-08-02T01:07:39","date_gmt":"2011-08-02T08:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=2958"},"modified":"2011-08-02T01:17:59","modified_gmt":"2011-08-02T08:17:59","slug":"bill-charlap-and-renee-rosnes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/bill-charlap-and-renee-rosnes\/","title":{"rendered":"BILL CHARLAP AND RENEE ROSNES"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

BILL CHARLAP AND RENEE ROSNES<\/strong><\/h1>\n

A pair of virtuoso jazz pianists makes beautiful music together <\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n

Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes are not like most couples. By the time they married in 2007, each was already a world-renowned jazz pianist with an impressive discography and a packed touring itinerary. The living room of their New Jersey home is taken up mostly by two grand Steinways, and their piano stools are where they prefer to spend their leisure hours. They brought that collaborative impulse into the studio at last on their new Double Portrait<\/em> album, which features stunningly virtuosic four-handed workouts on a collection of jazz covers and standards, as well as one Rosnes original.<\/p>\n

The two had long wanted to record together, but waited patiently for the stars to align. \u201cWe\u2019d been looking forward to getting into the studio for quite a while,\u201d says Rosnes. \u201cBetween our busy performing schedules and being parents, it took some organizing to pull it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

After all that, the music itself came naturally. \u201cWe don\u2019t alter our playing styles for each other,\u201d says Charlap. \u201cWe just listen and react. The result is a new entity comprised of both our voices.\u201d The couple says that each track on Double Portrait<\/em> includes a fair bit of improvising. \u201cSometimes we bounce ideas back and forth trading bars, and other times we take longer individual solos,\u201d explains Rosnes. \u201cThere are also moments where we improvise at the same time, such as on my piece \u2018The Saros Cycle.\u2019 We didn\u2019t discuss the idea; it just happened like that when the tape was rolling.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly both of us have distinct styles, but there is also a lot of common ground that existed before we ever sat down to play together. Being married, there is also an intimate spirit that comes through in the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlap, who is the son of cabaret singer Sandy Stewart, first met Rosnes in 2003 when they were part of a group of 10 pianists touring Japan together. Their relationship grew over the next few years and by the time they tied the knot, they\u2019d already learned how to weave together their professional and personal lives\u2014they have three children between them from previous marriages. Now they look forward to further collaborative efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying together is a joy for us, and the possibilities are so vast with two pianos,\u201d says Charlap. \u201cWe\u2019ve only just begun to explore our musical partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Jeff Tamarkin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BILL CHARLAP AND RENEE ROSNES A pair of virtuoso jazz pianists makes beautiful music together Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes are not like most couples. By the time they married in 2007, each was already a world-renowned jazz pianist with an impressive discography and a packed touring itinerary. The living room of their New Jersey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[2263,70,10156],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2958"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2972,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958\/revisions\/2972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}