INFORMATION FOR
Bassist Christian McBride and pianist Bill Charlap, two of the jazz world’s most acclaimed performers, team up for a duo performance on Sunday, April 27, 2025 as part of the spring 2025 Jazz Room series at William Paterson University in Wayne. The concert begins at 3:00 p.m. in the Shea Center for Performing Arts on campus.
The Jazz Room, William Paterson University’s long-running performance series, will feature a wide variety of today’s most exciting jazz musicians during the spring 2025 season. Upcoming performances include vocalist Will Downing on May 9.
The concert will be preceded by “Sittin’ In,” the Jazz Room’s accompanying “meet the artist” concert preview featuring interviews with jazz artists and guest speakers. This informal discussion, free to all Jazz Room ticketholders, begins at 2:00 p.m. in the Shea Recital Hall.
This concert creates a truly rare performance by bringing together two true jazz giants who have only performed together rarely in the past and never have toured. This promises to be a truly memorable event, a very rare collaboration between two New Jersey residents who are worldwide jazz icons. Christian McBride has a solid reputation as one of the world’s most respected jazz basists and bandleaders, but that is only the beginning: he leads the Newport Jazz Festival, and co-leads Jazz House Kids with his wife Melissa Walker. Bill Charlap is one of the world’s foremost pianists, touring and recording with his trio of 27 years with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, releasing award-winning albums on the Blue Note label and winning a 2016 Grammy Award with Tony Bennett.
Tickets are $33 for the general public, $30 for WP faculty, staff, alumni, and senior citizens, $10 for non-WP students, and WP students are admitted free. The concert is sponsored by the Woody Shapiro Endowment. For tickets or additional information, visit wp-presents.org, or contact the Shea Center Box Office at 973.720.2371 or boxoffice@wpunj.edu.
William Paterson University’s Jazz Room series is the longest-running program of its kind in the United States. Launched in 1978, the Jazz Room has welcomed more than 500 jazz legends to the stage, including Sonny Rollins, Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, Joe Williams, Marian McPartland, Slide Hampton, Kenny Burrell, Joe Lovano, Kenny Garrett, Clark Terry, Michael and Randy Brecker, the Vanguard Orchestra, and more. Concerts have encompassed the entire spectrum of jazz, from early jazz and swing to avant garde, and from intimate solo performances to big bands.
The performance series provides support for the University’s internationally renowned Jazz Studies Program, founded in 1973, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. The program draws students from across the United States and abroad under the current direction of Grammy Award-winning pianist Bill Charlap.
The Jazz Room at William Paterson University has been made possible, in part, by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
