For Bill Charlap, it all comes down to nuance — of touch, rhythm and more

As pianist Bill Charlap and his trio explore classic 20th-century American songs, their reverence is always open to the serendipitous. That outlook runs throughout the group’s 2024 live album, “And Then Again,” as they traverse new contours as they interpret writers such as George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk and Jerome Kern. In conversation, when Charlap analyzes the pieces’ origins and structures, he delves deeply into their harmonic progressions and how they connect to worlds of different idioms. Then he brings it back to his own approach.

“I’m trying my best to do something that has some syntax that is real and speaks from as much originality as whatever it is I was born with and also sits on the shoulders of what’s come before,” said Charlap, who will joined by two special guests, vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and trumpeter Nicholas Payton, at an SCP Jazz concert March 21. “It’s part of the process of building it from the inside out that’s forever. It all has to do with nuance of touch, nuance of rhythm, nuance of communication, the arrangement, extemporaneous all the time. Stephen Sondheim once said, ‘God is in the nuances.’ ”

Along with that higher power, Charlap’s sense of nuance also comes from working with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington (no relation) for more than 27 years. (David Wong will replace Peter Washington for the March 21 concert.) That longevity enhances the trio’s intuitive dialogue.

“Conceptually, we understand clearly what our goal is in terms of our individual relationship to our instruments, our collective relationship to each other and our relationship to the past, present and future of the music all at the same time,” Charlap said. “That’s along with our commitment to spontaneity.”

While standards make up most of the new album, the title piece is a recent composition by Kenny Barron, who Charlap describes as “the premier jazz pianist in the world today.”

“To write a viable blues that doesn’t sound like a rehash of Charlie Parker and has a signature on it and freshness to it, that’s no easy thing to do,” Charlap said. “But, like everything else Kenny Barron does, he makes that which takes a lifetime look easy.”

Charlap’s regard for the music’s history included recording “And Then Again” at New York’s storied Village Vanguard, which celebrates its 90th birthday this month. As Charlap said of the eminent venue, “Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans are there watching, and I’m not going to let them down by doing something disrespectful.” He added that the venue lends itself to reflection while also providing ideal acoustics.

“For every artist who plays there, it’s is very important because it is a place where one can reflect exactly where you are on the road to that journey to whatever legacy you leave,” Charlap said. “And there is one other simple fact: I remember the first time playing at the Vanguard, what I felt onstage was that even though the drums are on other side of the stage, I heard the hi-hat in my left ear as if it were an inch away. There’s a magic that happens on that stage that is a force of nature because of how the room is set up. I don’t know if it’s intended but God did a little dance around that room.”

Some of his collaborators have had other significant roles in his life, including his mother, singer Sandy Stewart. His wife, pianist Renee Rosnes, is another ongoing source of inspiration. One colleague was both a personal hero as well as a universally beloved legend: Tony Bennett.

“Tony was the red carpet for the songwriter, and he had a way of putting a signature on a song and delivering it to you that felt like — even if in a hall for 3,000 — he was singing it to you, and he was,” Charlap said. “But he could also shout out to the back row. And he felt that if everybody else opens with an uptempo, open with a ballad. He’d say, ‘Don’t do what’s expected and challenge yourself each time.’”

Another accomplished singer, Dee Dee Bridgewater, will appear with Charlap’s trio at Symphony Center, along with trumpeter Nicholas Payton. They have all been performing for the past five years with the pianist, who counts himself among their admirers.

“Dee Dee is a force of nature, she’s just such a great musician, collaborator, improviser, storyteller and actor,” Charlap said. “She has all of those things and warmth, risk, wisdom and childlike enthusiasm. Nicholas is truly one of the giants who has such a vast vision of the entire spectrum of the music and is one of the greatest improvisers. It’s a very special situation we have going on here.”