Dee Dee Bridgewater & Bill Charlap
Dee Dee Bridgewater & Bill Charlap
Dee Dee Bridgewater & Bill Charlap
Sunday, January 31, 2027
3:00 PM | Pfleeger Concert Hall
Effortless…spontaneous…inimitable…this is the convergence of two of jazz’s most legendary forces of nature. When Grammy Award-winning Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap take the stage, an incomparable experience awaits. With a vast repertoire spanning the greatest periods and genres in American music, the duo craft masterful performances and deliver captivating storytelling.
Drawing from the canons of luminary composers such as Ellington, Porter, Sondheim, Legrand, Simon, and others, their virtuosic interpretations traverse the musical spectrum, from intimate ballads to soulful grooves, delivered with daring expression borne of their musical chemistry.
This engagement of Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap is made possible in part through the Mid Atlantic Presenter Initiatives program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tickets
$35 General Admission
$25 Seniors (55+), Military (active & retired), Glassboro Residents, Rowan Alumni, Rowan Employees, Accessible Seating
$10 Youth (18 and under)
FREE for Rowan students (ticket required)
*This is an assigned seating event
PURCHASE TICKETSVideo
Dee Dee Bridgewater BIo
Over the course of a multifaceted career spanning four decades, Grammy and Tony Award-winning jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater has ascended to the upper echelon of vocalists, putting her unique spin on standards, as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics. Ever the fearless voyager, explorer, pioneer and keeper of tradition, the three-time Grammy-winner recently won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee.
Bridgewater’s career has always bridged musical genres. She earned her first professional experience as a member of the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Louis Big Band, and throughout the 70s she performed with such jazz notables as Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie. After a foray into the pop world during the 1980s, she relocated to Paris and began to turn her attention back to Jazz. Signing with the Universal Music Group as a producer (Bridgewater produces all of her CDs), Bridgewater released a series of critically acclaimed titles beginning with Keeping Tradition in 1993. All but one, including her wildly successful double Grammy Award-winning tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Dear Ella, have received Grammy nominations.
Bridgewater also pursued a parallel career in musical theater, winning a Tony Award for her role as “Glinda” in The Wiz in 1975. Having recently completed a run as the lead role of Billie Holiday in the off-Broadway production of Lady Day, her other theatrical credits include Sophisticated Ladies, Black Ballad, Carmen, Cabaret and the Off-Broadway and West End Productions of Lady Day, for which Bridgewater received the British Laurence Olivier Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.
As a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Bridgewater continues to appeal for international solidarity to finance global grassroots projects in the fight against world hunger. She spent the last year on an extensive global tour in support of “Dee Dee’s Feathers” and was recently honored with a stage dedication in her name at the new People’s Health New Orleans Jazz Market. In April 2017 Bridgewater received an NEA Jazz Masters Fellows Award with honors. deedeebridgewater.com
Bill Charlap Bio
Grammy Award–winning pianist Bill Charlap has performed with many of the leading artists of our time, including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wynton Marsalis, Ron Carter, Tony Bennett, Gerry Mulligan, Houston Person, Barbra Streisand and Phil Woods. He is acclaimed for his solo and trio interpretations of the American Popular Songbook and has recorded albums featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael, and Duke Ellington.
Bill Charlap has earned Grammy nominations for Uptown Downtown, Somewhere: The Songs of Leonard Bernstein, and The Bill Charlap Trio: Live at the Village Vanguard. The 2016 recording, Notes from New York, received a five-star review in DownBeat magazine. 2021’s Street of Dreams followed by 2024’s And Then Again marked his return to the Blue Note label. Charlap’s most recent release is the Grammy nominated Elemental in duo performance with the brilliant and highly celebrated vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. Charlap tours all over the world, and his New York engagements include regular appearances at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, and the Village Vanguard.
From 2005 to 2023, Charlap was artistic director of New York City’s Jazz in July Festival at the 92nd Street Y. He is currently Director of Jazz Studies at William Paterson University of New Jersey, one of the world's longest running and most respected jazz programs. Born in New York City, Bill Charlap began playing the piano at age three. His father was Broadway composer Moose Charlap, who wrote the score for the production of Peter Pan starring Mary Martin. His mother is singer Sandy Stewart, who toured with Benny Goodman, appeared on the Ed Sullivan and Perry Como shows, and earned a Grammy Award nomination for her 1963 recording of the song “My Coloring Book.”
Charlap’s album with Tony Bennett, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, won the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. It features Charlap and Bennett in duet, and in collaboration with the Bill Charlap Trio, plus Bennett with piano duo performances with renowned jazz pianist and composer Renee Rosnes. Charlap and Rosnes are husband and wife, and they frequently perform piano duo concerts. Their recording, Double Portrait on the Blue Note label was released in 2010 to critical acclaim. billcharlap.com
About the Marie Rader Presenting Series
The Marie Rader Presenting Series (MRPS) at Rowan University is a curated performing arts series that uplifts the region’s cultural landscape. Focused on artistic integrity and inclusion, MRPS provides public offerings that reflect the innovation and quality consistent with Rowan University’s overall standards of high achievement and transformation, while providing unprecedented access for the community.
Because of the Marie Rader Series, you don't have to travel to New York or Philadelphia to see some of the most influential leaders in dance, music, theatre and beyond. This series is also designed to introduce you to artists you wouldn't otherwise encounter-- artists who reflect not only the future of performing arts, but who help us envision a better world, right now, right here in South Jersey.
The Marie Rader is made possible in part through generous support from the Henry M. Rowan Family Foundation via the Marie Rader Memorial Fund and through funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
If you enjoy a Marie Rader experience, please support the series by spreading the word, and if you have the means, we welcome your financial support as well.
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