| Jazz |
Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap’s Sublime Jazz Dialogue Transcends Time and Tradition.
Dee Dee Bridgewater has long stood as one of the most vital and legitimate voices in jazz. Her legacy is not merely one of technical brilliance or vocal power, it is her intellectual engagement with the music that has allowed her to continually reinvent herself while remaining anchored in the genre’s deepest roots. Over the decades, she has astonished audiences worldwide, not by repeating herself, but by probing jazz’s infinite possibilities. This is nowhere more evident than in her work as the longtime host of JazzSet on NPR, a show that showcases her deep reflections on the form, and remains available here: JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater.
Her latest collaboration with pianist Bill Charlap is a masterclass in minimalist grandeur. Together, they take on the American Songbook not as a museum piece, but as a living, breathing organism. These are not mere covers, they are reimaginings that evoke history through character while reshaping it with the language of today. This is not just an album for jazz vocalists or aficionados of the “great voices” tradition, it’s a vital document of two artists daring to expose the raw edge of a voice-piano duo, and doing so with breathtaking honesty.
Bridgewater and Charlap offer a repertoire that only they could conceive, a repertoire born of deep scholarship, exquisite articulation, and musical chemistry that borders on the telepathic. “Fats Waller was a playful musician and his lyrics reflect that mischief,” Bridgewater says. “Bill and I wanted to recreate that spirit in ‘Honeysuckle Rose.’ So we skip, we hold hands musically, we whistle, we play hide and seek, we tease like kids in a schoolyard, all of it in the moment, unrehearsed, completely improvised.”
The result is more than a recording; it’s a poetic, uncompromising monument to jazz itself. The album flows with elegance, each track revealing Bridgewater’s full emotional and artistic range, indeed, perhaps no other project has ever felt so personal. Her delivery holds not just voice but soul, not just style but an idea of what jazz is and what it can become. There’s a spiritual gravity to the record, as if Bridgewater were revisiting the past not to pay homage, but to commune with it.
The project, as with many destined to be exceptional, began with a kind of mysterious inevitability. “I hear voices,” Bridgewater confides. “One morning I woke up and a voice said: Bill Charlap. I was stunned, it seemed like such an unlikely pairing.” Charlap, for his part, was equally surprised. “I’ve always been a huge admirer of Dee Dee Bridgewater,” he says. “I was thrilled at the idea of working with her, but I assumed she’d join my trio as a guest. When I learned that she wanted to do this as a duo, just the two of us, it all suddenly made sense.”
Their mutual transformation through collaboration is evident. “My perception of Bill changed completely after we played together,” Bridgewater explains. “I knew he was a master of the American repertoire, but I had no idea the depth of his knowledge. I was blown away by his sensitivity, his vast musical culture, and the references he draws from when he plays. He’s a living encyclopedia. I’ve never worked with someone who allowed me to feel so completely at ease, so fully myself.”
The album concludes, if such a word can be used for something so unfinished in spirit, with a show-stopping version of “Caravan.” With just eight tracks, it leaves listeners hungry for more.
If you’ve ever admired Dee Dee Bridgewater’s sincerity and control, this record will make you fall in love with her anew. She doesn’t just sing the songs, she inhabits them, redefines them, and ultimately makes them her own.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, June 11th 2025
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Upcoming Duo Shows in D.C., New York, and Los Angeles
+ Album Release Show June 14 at The Hollywood Bowl
On the road :
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