In an earlier era, most of you would have heard of Bill Charlap. He's one of the best mainstream pianists working today, offering strong and loving interpretations of classic American songs from the 1930s into the 1960s. I don't know that he's enough of an innovator ever to have been a massive presence in music, but he's certainly excellent and in days when jazz was more popular the average person would have heard of him in the same way that people once knew the name of, say, Oscar Peterson, even if they weren't regular listeners or fans.

 

Charlap doesn't have that sort of name and never will. But he makes a living and he certainly makes wonderful music. He offered an astonishing concert last Friday at the Library of Congress, showcasing not just great chops but real subtlety. It was really two concerts in one.

 

Charlap has kept the same trio going for nearly a decade now. Bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington (no relation to each other) play at the highest level, which is to say they wear their virtuosity easily, never feeling the need to show off to make a point. Instead, they drop in great accents that really help Charlap make his transitions.

 

Charlap was certainly in a mood to show off. His playing on the ironically named tune "Simplicity" was so fast and so fluent -- he never misses a note -- that it was easy to imagine young musicians in the audience quitting on the spot. (Of course, there were no young musicians in attendance, that I know of. As with most Library of Congress concerts, the crowd was pretty old, although the mean age at this one may have been 10 years younger than normal.)

 

He played other tunes at a furious pace, including an undanceable "Dance at the Gym," from "West Side Story" and a triple-time "The Way You Look Tonight." But even as he raced flawlessly around the keyboards, he still produced pretty voicings and dropped in quick, unexpected quotes from other songs. "He's really a master of dynamics, isn't he," said our old pal John Scheinman during a soft "Too Late Now."

 

Charlap offered props to all the composers whose works he played. Some weren't famous, although they'd been written by big names such as Burton Lane and George Shearing. It was as if Charlap were making the point that the so-called Great American Songbook is so rich that there's really no reason to play bad music, or even overly familiar music.

 

His playing was the real demonstration of his affection, though. Charlap is a great melodist and knows how to draw a listener into the melody through his loving presentation of song.

 

I say it was like two concerts in one because Charlap opened the show with a set featuring his mother, the Broadway singer Sandy Stewart. The two have been performing regularly and Stewart is also in love with the great old tunes.

 

Her voice sounded a tad constricted but Stewart is a fine singer in the cabaret tradition, which is to say that she pays ardent attention to the meaning and emotion of each lyric. Mostly she presents the tune but she had a habit of drawing out certain notes, with a heavy vibrato, in order to convey a feeling such as wistfulness. Her renditions of two slow songs, "Remind Me" and "The Boy Next Door," could not have been beat.

 

While she sang, Charlap barely played, comping a few chords behind her or playing just a note or two to frame a lyric line. I first heard and heard of Charlap as an accompanist for the great singer Carol Sloane. When you hear his nearly spartan playing behind a singer, you would have no idea that he is also the propulsive dynamo that appears alongside the two Washingtons.