Today, acclaimed vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and pianist Bill Charlap, two of the most highly respected figures in the world of jazz, announced their collaborative new recording, Elemental, to be released on June 13 through Mack Avenue Records. On the album Bridgewater and Charlap curate a repertoire that only they can present: exploring a deep understanding of jazz tradition alongside impeccable phrasing and a once-in-a-generation dynamic range.
Along with the announcement Bridgewater and Charlap shared lead single, “Honeysuckle Rose,” the perfect introduction to this unique pairing, showcasing their natural chemistry as Bridgwater’s gravity-defying vocal leaps dance atop Charlap’s jaunty, percolating piano lines.
“Fats Waller was a playful musician and wrote lyrics that reflected this characteristic,” explains Bridgewater. “Bill and I wanted to emulate this quality on ‘Honeysuckle Rose,’ hence our approach. We’re skipping, holding musical hands, whistling, playing hide and seek, taking gentle jabs at each other like children on a playground, all in the moment, unrehearsed, improvised in real time.”
Ask any true jazz fan to draw up a list of the greatest vocalists of the modern era and the name Dee Dee Bridgewater will inevitably appear at the top. Repeat the exercise for contemporary pianists and you’ll just as assuredly see Bill Charlap on the short list. Draw a line between the two however, and the most dedicated aficionado would have no chance of predicting the outcome. The prospect of a collaboration proved daunting even to Bridgewater and Charlap themselves, who had never worked together prior to their first meeting live on stage in 2019.
The initial idea for the collaboration was Bridgewater’s, and appropriately for a project that has taken on such a mystical aura, it arrived like a bolt out of the blue. “I hear voices,” the singer explains. “I woke one morning and a voice said, ‘Bill Charlap.’ I was really quite dumbfounded because it seemed like such an unlikely pairing for me.”
But one thing that Bridgewater has learned over the course of her remarkable, nearly six-decade career is to trust in that voice. Her broad-ranging successes speak for themselves: three GRAMMY Awards, a Tony Award, NEA Jazz Master honors, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, and the 2024 Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award, to name a few of her myriad accolades.
“I have always been and continue to be a huge fan of Dee Dee Bridgewater,” Charlap says. “I was delighted at the prospect of us working together, but I assumed she would be guesting with my trio. When I was told no, Dee Dee wanted to do this as a duo, all of a sudden a bunch of lights went on.”
Charlap of course is no stranger to working with incredible singers. He won a GRAMMY Award in 2016 for The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, his acclaimed album with one of the all-time greats, Tony Bennett. He’s also recorded with Barbra Streisand, Diana Krall, Ann Hampton Callaway, Freddy Cole, Carol Sloane, and two beloved albums with his mother, cabaret and jazz singer Sandy Stewart.
The pair scheduled a few exploratory concerts to determine whether they in fact did possess that ever-elusive chemistry. The results were more exhilarating than the two had dared hope.
“My perception and my understanding of Bill changed completely after we got together,” Bridgewater explains. “I knew that he was steeped in the American songbook, but I did not know the degree of his extreme knowledge. I was blown away by Bill’s sensitivity as a pianist, his wealth of knowledge and the references that he can call upon when he’s playing. I mean, he’s an encyclopedia. I have never before in all of my years worked with a musician with whom I could so completely relax and be myself.”
Charlap is quick to return the compliments. “Dee Dee Bridgewater is a giant of a musician,” he says. “A brilliant vocalist, but just as much an actor, just as much a storyteller, just as much a risk taker. All of that is together in equal parts, with each piece stepping out into the following spot at different moments. That makes her unlike anybody else historically.”
Elemental hints at the profound virtually subatomic level on which these two brilliant GRAMMY Award-winning artists connect. In a relatively short but fruitful period of time – interrupted but not derailed by the pandemic – they have forged a camaraderie that soars past the chemical to the alchemical.
“The two of us have discovered a kind of musical melding that is completely inexplicable to the untrained ear,” says Bridgewater. “We’ve become a gentle force of nature, and people are astounded when they encounter it.”
That force was on full display at the duo’s recent performance at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, where they captivated audiences and critics alike. Bridgewater and Charlap have a few more performances lined up in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles before Bridgewater heads out on her We Exist! Tour across Europe. See full list of tour dates below, which also includes a duo performance at the Charlie Parker Festival in New York City on August 24.
Elemental Tracklist:
1. Beginning to See the Light
2. Mood Indigo
3. Honeysuckle Rose
4. Here’s That Rainy Day
5. Love for Sale
6. ‘S Wonderful
7. In the Still of the Night
8. Caravan
Dee Dee Bridgewater US Tour Dates:
May 9-11 – Washington, DC – Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival *
May 19 – New York, NY – 92nd St Y
June 12 – Des Moines, IA – Hoyt Sherman Place *
June 14 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl * – ALBUM RELEASE SHOW
August 24 – New York, NY – Charlie Parker Festival *
* = duo performances with Bill Charlap
Dee Dee Bridgewater’s We Exist! Tour:
July 1 – Vienne, France – Jazz à Vienne
July 3 – Toulouse, France – Toulouse Festival
July 4 – Santa Cruz, Canary Islands, Spain – Tenerife Auditorium
July 5 – Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain – Jameos del Agua Auditorium
July 6 – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain – Pérez Galdós Theatre
July 8 – Oestrich-Winkel, Germany – Seebühne Schloss Vollrads
July 9 – Vannes, France – Vannes Echos Jazz
July 11 – Merano, Italy – KIMM + Master Class
July 12 – Marseille, France – Marseille Jazz Des Cinq Continents
July 16 – Weimar, Germany – Schallkultur Festival
July 19 – Wiesbaden, Germany – Kurpark Wiesbaden
July 20 – Freiburg, Germany – Zelt Musik Festival
July 23 – Vilnius, Lithuania – Midsummer Vilnius Fest
July 25 – San Sebastian, Spain – San Sebastien
July 26 – Barcelona, Spain – Palau de la Musica Catalana
July 27 – Gdynia, Poland – Ladies Festival
July 29 – Fano, Italy – Jazz by the Sea
