Dee Dee Bridgewater & Bill Charlap

Biography

Dee Dee Bridgewater, a Grammy and Tony Award-winning jazz vocalist born and raised in Flint, Michigan, began her career in the 1960s after attending Michigan State University, gaining early professional experience with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band and performing alongside jazz icons like Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, and Dizzy Gillespie throughout the 1970s. After exploring pop in the 1980s, she relocated to Paris and refocused on jazz, earning Grammy Awards for Best Vocal Jazz Album with Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee and Dear Ella, while also winning a Tony for her role as Glinda in The Wiz and receiving a Laurence Olivier nomination for Lady Day. Bill Charlap, a Grammy-winning pianist from a musical family—son of Broadway composer Moose Charlap and vocalist Sandy Stewart—started playing piano at age three, formed the acclaimed Bill Charlap Trio in 1997 with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, and has interpreted the Great American Songbook with artists like Tony Bennett, earning a Grammy for The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern in 2016.[1][2][3]

Bridgewater and Charlap represent distinct yet complementary styles in vocal jazz and piano trio traditions, with Bridgewater known for her bold reinterpretations of standards, theatrical flair, and genre-bridging explorations including French jazz influences, and Charlap celebrated for his sensitive, swinging mastery of composers like Gershwin, Berlin, Ellington, Porter, and Sondheim. Their duo collaboration, featuring telepathic rapport and alchemical chemistry, has led to live performances worldwide, guest appearances like Bridgewater with the Bill Charlap Trio and Nicholas Payton, and their debut album Elemental released in June 2025 on Mack Avenue Records, nominated for a Grammy in Best Jazz Vocal Album.[3][4][6][9] Bridgewater serves as a UN FAO Goodwill Ambassador and founded The Woodshed Network to mentor women in jazz, while Charlap has directed Jazz in July at 92NY and now leads Jazz Studies at William Paterson University.[1][2][3][5]

Their legacy endures through decades of innovation: Bridgewater as a three-time Grammy winner, NEA Jazz Master, and Tony recipient honored with a stage dedication at the New Orleans Jazz Market, and Charlap as a Songbook authority with worldwide tours, productions for Jazz at Lincoln Center, and frequent duos with wife Renee Rosnes. Together, they continue touring as a duo, reimagining classics with warmth, wit, and soul, solidifying their status as jazz legends.[1][2][3][4]

Fun Facts

• Dee Dee Bridgewater won a Tony Award for playing Glinda in The Wiz and later portrayed Billie Holiday in Lady Day, earning a Laurence Olivier nomination.
• Bill Charlap began playing piano at age three, influenced by his mother Sandy Stewart, who received a 1963 Grammy nomination for 'My Coloring Book,' and they later recorded two albums together.
• Bridgewater and Charlap describe their duo chemistry as an 'alchemical' musical melding that surprised even them after exploratory concerts, leading to their Grammy-nominated debut Elemental.
• Bridgewater hosted the first virtual NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert in 2020 and returned in 2021 with Delroy Lindo, later co-hosting the inaugural Jazz Music Awards in 2022.

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band - early professional experience and launchpad for career (membership and performances) [late 1960s-1970s]
• Dizzy Gillespie - jazz notable performed with during formative years (live performances) [1970s]
• Moose Charlap - father and Broadway composer who inspired piano passion for Bill Charlap (family musical influence) [childhood]

Key Collaborators

• Bill Charlap - duo partner in live performances and recordings (Elemental (2025), worldwide tours) [2023-present]
• Tony Bennett - vocal collaboration on Songbook interpretations (The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern (Grammy winner)) [2016]
• Renee Rosnes - wife and frequent two-piano duo partner (Double Portrait (2010)) [ongoing]
• Peter Washington - bassist in Bill Charlap Trio (trio albums like And Then Again (2024)) [1997-present]
• Nicholas Payton - trumpeter in special guest performance with Bridgewater and Charlap Trio (John Coltrane International Jazz Festival (2024)) [2024]

Artists Influenced

• Women in The Woodshed Network - mentees through Bridgewater's non-profit program supporting and educating women in jazz (annual program oversight) [2020-present]

External Links

• Spotify