Pianist Bill Charlap performs with his entire body, his interpretations of jazz standards a dramatic interplay of physical power and intricate chords flowing from his hands. Charlap at times appeared in danger of falling off his bench as he and master ...
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Bill Charlap Trio in Atlanta History Center concert conducts exciting tour of American songbook and more...

Bill Charlap Trio in Atlanta History Center concert conducts exciting tour of American songbook

Pianist Bill Charlap performs with his entire body, his interpretations of jazz standards a dramatic interplay of physical power and intricate chords flowing from his hands.

Charlap at times appeared in danger of falling off his bench as he and master bass player Peter Washington and dynamic drummer Kenny Washington took a deep dive into the American songbook in a concert at the Atlanta History Center's McElreath Hall, five years after playing at the same venue.

Again the star attraction of the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival, now known as Neranenah, Charlap and the two unrelated Washingtons performed familiar and more obscure numbers by composers ranging from popular songwriters Cole Porter, George and Ira Gerswhin, Jimmy Van Heusen and Michel Legrand to jazz masters Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker.

The arrangements suitable for intimate jazz clubs transferred well to the concert hall, its small stage giving a feeling of intimacy.

Ranging from exuberant power to the delicate playing of notes, Charlap wandered from the songs' melodic boundaries to improvise expansive musical landscapes.

Charlap's piano stylings and Peter Washington's bass progressions engaged in intense conversations. Kenny Washington's driving drum solos and interactions with Charlap mesmerized the audience. On Charlap's quiet performance of Van Heusen's "Here's That Rainy Day," the drummer's brushwork enhanced the intimate mood.

A child of Broadway and American popular music, Charlap gave entertaining commentary on the songs and their composition. Delivering an encyclopedic history lesson, Charlap told inside stories about such notables as Frank Sinatra, Irving Berlin, Les McCann and the lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, who collaborated with LeGrand on the movie number "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life," which Charlap expressively performed.

Acknowledging the major influence of Jewish composers, Charlap affirmed that American popular music is the product of many different cultures and voices, all "coming together to sing," as the word Neranenah proclaims.

 

 

 

 

Metro Atlanta population rises to sixth largest in United States

The commutes are getting even longer in metro Atlanta. 

Adding nearly 70,000 new residents from 2022-2023, the 29-county Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metropolitan area is now the sixth largest in the United States, overtaking Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., according to Census Bureau estimates.

Metro Atlanta now boasts a population of 6,307,261, which is projected to keep rising.

Only the Dallas and Houston metro areas, ahead of Atlanta in the national rankings, grew faster in the country, the Census Bureau said.

According to projections, Dallas, Houston and Atlanta will one day jump in tandem over  longtime No. 3 Chicago. No. 1 New York and No. 2 Los Angeles appear out of reach of the burgeoning Sun Belt metropolises.

Atlanta's huge metropolitan area stretches to exurban counties like Meriwether, Morgan, Newton, Rockdale, Cherokee, Forsyth and Fayette.

Many who prefer a suburban lifestyle commute nearly 100 miles to jobs in the inner city and close-in counties, clogging the interstates.

Maybe those commuters will one day be driving electric vehicles. For the near future, all of those new residents will be spewing more carbon emissions into metro Atlanta's atmosphere.

 

 

Denzel Washington, Jake Gyllenhall to star in Broadway production of "Othello"

Shakespeare's "Othello" returns to Broadway in spring 2025, starring Denzel Washington in the lead role and Jake Gyllenhall as Iago.

Atlanta's Kenny Leon will direct the production at a not yet determined Shubert Theater.

Leon directed the 69-year-old Washington in smash Broadway productions of August Wilson's "Fences," co-starring Viola Davis, and Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun." The acclaimed director recently led a Shakespeare in the Park production of "Hamlet."

Washington, lauded for his dynamic movie performances, has also appeared in "Julius Caesar" on Broadway, and portrayed MacBeth in a 2021 film.

A leading film star, the 44-year-old Gyllenhall has appeared in three Broadway plays, including "Sundays in the Park With George."

The actress who will play Desdemona, the falsely accused wife of Othello, has not been named.  

"Othello" was last performed on Broadway in 1982, starring James Earl Jones as Othello, Christopher Plummer as Iago and Dianne Wiest as Desdemona.

The tragedy still shocks modern audiences, with its racial and sexual themes, Iago's duplicity, and Othello's mistaken jealousy leading to the sudden murder of the innocent Desdemona.

With Washington and Gyllenhall's starpower, Shakespeare's 400-year-old play will be Broadway's hottest ticket.

 

 

 

 

Robert De Niro castigates Donald Trump as threat to democracy

Robert De Niro's sounding the alarm about the dangers of another Donald Trump presidency.

In interviews with Bill Maher and Jimmy Kimmel, the 80-year-old De Niro called Trump a narcissistic psychopath who would make America a dystopian totalitarian nightmare if elected again.

De Niro warned Maher that Trump would be "coming for me and for you."

The acclaimed actor denounced Republicans for their overwhelming support of Trump, whom de Niro branded as a criminal without any redeeming qualities.

Making clear that he believes Trump's authoritarian threats are real, De Niro urged voters to re-elect President Biden, whom he said would maintain "normalcy" in a second term.

After a 50-year career marked by a dazzling range of memorable film performances, De Niro remains active. The winner of two Academy Awards, he received a best supporting actor nomination this year for his performance as a villain in "Killers of the Flower Moon," his latest of a number of collaborations with the director Martin Scorsese.

De Niro has taken a valiant stand for American democracy in challenging Trump.

 

Farewell William Whitworth, influential Atlantic Monthly edtior

William Whitworth stood tall among the Southern-born editors who revitalized American magazines.

Whitworth, a native of Little Rock, Ark. who rejuvenated the Atlantic Monthly as the venerated magazine's executive editor from 1980 through 1999, died March 8 at a special care home in Conway, Ark. after a series of falls.  He was 87.

Following Mississippian Willie Morris' energizing of Harper's in the 1960s and North Carolinian Harold Hayes' transformation of Esquire during the same era, Whitworth rehabilitated the Atlantic after its purchase by Mortimer Zuckerman, bringing in new writers and brightening the magazine's graphic design.

Before leading the Atlantic, Whitworth gained recognition as a writer of Talk of the Town pieces and profiles for The New Yorker, before moving into editing as the chief lieutenant of William Shawn.

At the New Yorker, Whitwrth edited writers such as Pauline Kael and Frances Fitzgerald, and won the respect of Robert Caro, editing an excerpt of Caro's "The Power Broker" for the magazine.

A close friend of fellow Arkansas native Charles Portis, who wrote the novels "True Grit" and "The Dog of The South," Whitworth  in 1963 followed Portis from the Arkansas Gazette to the New York Herald Tribune, where he worked as a reporter alongside Tom Wolfe, Dick Schapp and Jimmy Breslin. Shawn hired him for the New Yorker in 1966.

The courtly Whitworth, who never lost his Arkansas accent, was known for his exacting editing, upholding grammatical standards such as the proper usage of "lie" and "lay" and "persuade" and "convince." The Atlantic won nine National magazine awards during his reign.

Whitworth gave the Atlantic new life in the last days of print journalism's dominance, setting the stage for the magazine's recent resurgence in the digital era.