Search - Bill Charlap :: American Soul

Great Musicians at Their Most Uninspired

R.M.J. | California | 09/03/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I sort of happened upon Bill Charlap when I heard "Somewhere" because there is a decided lack of exciting piano trios around, unless you still like the Keith Jarrett factory. Charlap is one of those guys who has incredible almost orchestral subtlety, and gets that sparkling sound out of his piano lines, but still makes it sound like he's not even trying very hard. But the addition of the horns on this CD ruins it for me - Charlap loses control, and the rest of the musicians turn this into a jam session with tunes that are, let's face it, not that exciting by themselves anymore. I like Payton's energy, but it doesn't seem to mesh with the group. Even when the horns are cut out, "Liza" seems hurried. "I Was So Young" is nice, but even that doesn't have the harmonic or compositional freshness of Charlap's full trio CDs. Compare Charlap plays Gershwin with the Fred Hersch Trio +2, a great example of a trio pianist really taking the time to flesh out and expand his ideas with wind instruments. I hope Charlap takes his time with his next CD, because he's capable of something original and fresh and that's so rare today."

Get his other CDs instead

Pip | Abbotsford, British Columbia | 09/08/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is okay but it is not the sterling brilliant work Charlap does on his three previous efforts at all. Get any of those instead of this one. Get Stardust. Get Somewhere. Get Written in the Stars. Any and all of those three instead of this one. Another warning...this Gershwin one has the annoying Copy Control demon on it so when you load it onto your mp3 it skips and jumps. most annoying. whatever happen to fair use by people who buy the music????"