Jazz Pianist Bill Charlap Plays at Beacon UU on Nov. 18

Renowned jazz pianist Bill Charlap makes a welcome return to the Afternoon Music concert series with a solo performance at 4 p.m., Sunday, November 18, at Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Summit, 4 Waldron Ave. (at Springfield Ave.)

Charlap, who lives in West Orange, has played at the series six times since 2005, once with his mother, the singer Sandy Stewart.

The audience is invited to meet Charlap at a reception after the performance.

One of the world’s premiere jazz pianists, Bill Charlap is known for his interpretations of American jazz standards, familiar Broadway tunes and the Great American Songbook. He has performed with many leading artists, ranging from Phil Woods and Tony Bennett to Gerry Mulligan and Wynton Marsalis, and he often collaborates in a duo piano setting with his wife, the renowned jazz pianist Renee Rosnes.

Charlap's most recent album, Uptown Downtown on the Impulse!/Verve label, was a 2018 Grammy nominee for best jazz instrumental album. As with most of his recordings and performances, he played with his trio, including Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington on drums. The trio's Notes from New York in 2016 earned a five-star review in Downbeat.

"Charlap is in gorgeously lyrical form," wrote Jazz Weekly, "and the Washingtons supply deft support...Excellent!"

For more than a decade, Charlap has been artistic director of New York City’s Jazz in July Festival at the 92nd Street Y. Since 2015, he has been director of William Paterson University’s Jazz Studies Program in Wayne, one of the longest-running and most respected jazz programs in the country.

Other Afternoon Music concerts for the 2018-2019 season feature violinist Theresa Salomon and pianist Marc Peloquin, in a program of 19th and 20th century music on February 24, and pianist Mitchell Vines, soprano Kristina Bacharach and clarinetist/saxophonist Sam Sadigursky, performing both classical music and cabaret on April 14. Vines is the former artistic director of Afternoon Music.

Afternoon Music tickets are $25, $20 for seniors. Subscriptions for all three concerts are $65, seniors $50. Students are welcome free. For advance tickets, send a check made out to Afternoon Music to the church at Afternoon Music, 4 Waldron Avenue, Summit, NJ, 07901. There are no reserved seats.

The series is funded in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, through a grant administered by the Union County Division of Cultural & Heritage Affairs.

Further information is available at (908) 273-2899 or www.ucsummit.org.