Category: Piano

After Hours featuring Dena DeRose, air date July 6, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn educator, Featured guest, Piano, Vocals1 Comment

Join me for the July 6, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with jazz pianist, vocalist and educator Dena DeRose.

Although she began her career just as a pianist, medical problems with her hand forced her to become a vocalist as well. Dena has been chosen by Downbeat’s Critic’s Poll as an “artist deserving wider recognition,” and All About Jazz anointed her as “Jazz Artist of the Year” and “Best Jazz Album.” She has been featured on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” several times.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Dena DeRose, originally broadcast on July 6, 2020. Click here to visit Dena’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Diane Schuur, air date June 8, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, Piano, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the June 8, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined for an uplifting and stirring conversation with jazz vocalist and pianist Diane Schuur.

Nicknamed “Deedles”, she’s been blind since birth due to retinopathy of prematurity but has been gifted with absolute pitch memory and a clear vocal tone.

Stephen Holden, from the New York Times says, “Her voice is impressive in its size, range and brightness. A song can suddenly fly up an octave into little-girl squeals, then make a swan dive into the murky depths. She uses her twirling vibrato as a rhythmic punctuation. After drawing out a note, she dispenses that vibrato like a cherry on a sundae.”

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Diane Schuur, originally broadcast on June 8, 2020. Click here to visit Diane’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Benny Benack III, air date March 2, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, Piano, Trumpet, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the March 2, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with with Benny Benack lll.

Benny has proven to be a rare talent: not only a fiery trumpet player with a stirring command of the post-bop trumpet vernacular in the vein of Kenny Dorham and Blue Mitchell, but also a singer with a sly, mature, naturally expressive delivery in the post-Sinatra mold, performing standards and his own astute songs with a thrilling sense of showmanship. His superb intonation and bracing virtuosity enable him to handle astounding feats of originally composed vocalese (complex solos with written lyrics). And he’s a highly capable pianist as well.

Benny performs widely as a frontman for Postmodern Jukebox, the vintage music collective famed for canny old-school covers of modern pop.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Benny Benack III, originally broadcast on March 2, 2020. Click here to visit Benny’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Matt King, air date Feb. 24, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Arranger, Featured guest, Organ, Piano, Producer, Songwriter, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the Feb. 24, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined for an uplifting and stirring conversation with pianist, organist, vocalist, composer, arranger and producer based in the NYC area Matt King.

His latest recording as a leader, “Monk In Brazil,” features the iconic compositions of jazz legend Thelonious Monk, arranged by King in various Brazilian genres. This trailblazing music is earning rave reviews from notable artists in both the American and Brazilian jazz worlds:


“A brilliant triumph, melding the wittiness of Monk’s melodies and the infectiousness of Brazilian rhythms. Matt King’s piano playing is always stellar; his solos sparkle with such clarity and solid creative ideas. If you love Monk and Brazilian music, get ready to party! BRAVO!” (Rufus Reid)

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Matt King, originally broadcast on Feb. 24, 2020. Click here to visit Matt’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Karrin Allyson, air date Feb. 17, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, Piano, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the Feb. 17, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with American jazz singer and pianist, Karrin Allyson.

Karrin has been nominated for five Grammy Awards and has received positive reviews from several prominent sources, including the New York Times, which has called her a “singer with a feline touch and impeccable intonation.”

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Karrin Allyson, originally broadcast on Feb. 17, 2020. Click here to visit Karrin’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Anne Phillips, air date Jan. 20, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Arranger, composer, Featured guest, Piano, Producer, Songwriter, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the Jan. 20, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio (and later broadcast on KRBD Rainbird Radio and KSTK) as I’m joined in conversation with American singer, songwriter, pianist and producer Anne Phillips.

Anne’s career has covered almost every area of the music business. In addition to recording several solo albums, from the classic Born To Be Blue, to her most recent release, Ballet Time on which she sings with such old friends as Dave Brubeck and Marian McPartland, she  has worked  as a singer, choral arranger and conductor with many of the music world’s leading artists and is  widely known in the industry as the writer-arranger-producer of many national commercials.

Anne has worked with Burt Bacharach, Carole King, Mahalia Jackson and has arranged and produced jingles for the Four Tops and Martha and the Vandellas. She started working in demo recordings for songwriters in the 1950s. She was also a member of the Ray Charles Singers on the Perry Como Show.

Join me on this odyssey into the musical heart and soul into this fabulous artist.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Anne Phillips, originally broadcast on Jan. 20, 2020. Click here to visit Anne’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Monty Alexander, air date Jan. 13, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, Piano1 Comment

Join me for the Jan. 13, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander.

Monty’s playing has a Caribbean influence and bright swinging feeling, with a strong vocabulary of bebop jazz and blues-rooted melodies. He was influenced by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson and Frank Sinatra. Monty also sings and plays the melodica. He’s known for his surprising musical twists, bright rhythmic sense and intense dramatic musical climaxed.

Monty is married to jazz vocalist Caterina Zapponi, who was interviewed on the After Hours show broadcast on March 9, 2020.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Monty Alexander, originally broadcast on Jan. 13, 2020. Click here to visit Monty’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Benny Green, air date Dec. 9, 2019

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, PianoLeave a comment

Join me for the Dec. 9, 2019, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with the great American hard bop jazz pianist Benny Green.

He has been compared to Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson in style and counts them as influences. Benny joined Betty Carter’s band in 1983, and since 1991 he has led his own trio. He’s recorded for Blue Note Records, Telarc and Criss Cross Jazz.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Benny Green, originally broadcast on Dec. 9, 2019. Click here to visit Benny’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Ray Brown Jr., air date Oct. 21, 2019

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, Piano, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the Oct. 21, 2019, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska, when I was joined in an exclusive musical conversation with Ray Brown Jr.

Ray is an American jazz, blues, and smooth jazz pianist and singer. He was born in New York City and is the adopted son of master bassist Ray Brown and world renowned singer Ella Fitzgerald. Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra and many others were regular visitors during his childhood.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Ray Brown Jr., originally broadcast on Oct. 21, 2019. Click here to visit Ray’s page on the SRI Records website.

After Hours featuring Peter Eldridge, air date Sept. 30, 2019

On By Charles BinghamIn Arranger, Featured guest, Piano, SongwriterLeave a comment

Join me for the Sept. 30, 2019, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska, when I was joined in conversation with Peter Eldridge.

Peter has remained at the forefront of both the singer-songwriter and jazz realms as a vocalist, pianist, composer and arranger. He has five critically acclaimed albums: “Fool No More,” “Stranger in Town,” “Decorum,” “Mad Heaven” and “Disappearing Day” which was released in July 2016 on Sunnyside Records and called “an out and out masterpiece” by allaboutjazz. “Disappearing Day” made many ‘best of the year’ lists, including Downbeat, Jazziz and NPR.

Most recently, Peter and iconic jazz pianist and composer Kenny Werner joined forces on 2019 “Somewhere,” a collection of lush ballads for voice, string orchestra and jazz trio. Peter is also a founding member of internationally acclaimed vocal group, “New York Voices.”

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Peter Eldridge, originally broadcast on Sept. 30, 2019. Click here to visit Peter’s personal website.