Nice Work If You Can Get It
On NJN’s State of the Arts
Friday, October 13, at 8:30 pm; and Wednesday, October 18 at 11:30 pm

STATEWIDE – This edition of State of the Arts showcases three musicians who have made it in the jazz world – from one of the area’s favorite young singer/pianists, to an acclaimed jazz innovator with a career of more than 60 years, to a pianist known for interpreting the standards. This encore presentation of Nice Work If You Can Get It airs on Friday, October 13 at 8:30 pm, with a rebroadcast on Wednesday, October 18 at 11:30 pm.

• Clark Terry
With a career in jazz spanning more than sixty years, Clark Terry is a world-class trumpeter, flugelhornist, educator, and an NEA Jazz Master. His honors are too numerous to list completely: he’s performed for seven U.S. Presidents; received Grammy Awards, keys to cities, and halls of fame awards; and been knighted and honored on walks of fame. Terry has composed more than 200 jazz songs, and recorded with The London Symphony Orchestra, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, and The Chicago Jazz Orchestra, as well as with his own duos, trios, quartets, quintets, sextets, octets, and two big bands — Clark Terry's Big Bad Band and Clark Terry's Young Titans of Jazz. "Clark Terry," writes jazz writer Chuck Berg, "is one of contemporary music's great innovators, and justly celebrated for his great technical virtuosity, swinging lyricism, and impeccable good taste. Combining these with the gifts of a great dramatist, Clark is a master storyteller whose spellbinding musical 'tales' leave audiences thrilled and always awaiting more." State of the Arts producer Eric Schultz talks with Terry shortly after his 85th birthday as he prepared to teach, rehearse, and inspire a group of gifted jazz students at William Patterson University in Wayne, New Jersey.

• Bill Charlap
Bill Charlap’s most recent album features the work of George Gershwin, including “Nice Work If You Can Get It.” He’s been called his generation’s jazz piano standard-bearer, and, while still in his 30s, he has a string of well-received CDs to back it up. State of the Arts producer Susan Wallner visits Bill Charlap at his home in Summit, New Jersey, and in performance — solo at a “neighborhood concert” at the Unitarian Church of Summit, and with the Bill Charlap Trio, at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York. He describes why he likes to play music from the American Songbook, from Irving Berlin to Leonard Bernstein. He also talks about working with great singers, like Tony Bennett, Shirley Horn, and Sandy Stewart – who also happens to be his mother. Charlap’s family also includes his father Moose Charlap, the late Broadway composer.

• Tony DeSare
Although only in his early 30s, singer and pianist Tony DeSare is considered one of the rising young stars in the jazz and cabaret world. He has been performing since he was 17, headlined a jazz trio at Ithaca College, and has been steeped in American popular standards since childhood. More recently, DeSare has played venues like the Cafe Carlyle, Birdland, and the Apollo Theater, where he met guitar legend Bucky Pizzarelli, who backed up Tony on his debut CD. State of the Arts producer Amber Edwards interviews DeSare at his West Orange home and tapes him performing at one of his favorite local haunts, Shanghai Jazz in Madison, New Jersey. He appears there regularly and has built a fan base of serious jazz lovers. While he's been compared with Sinatra and Harry Connick, he is truly his own person. DeSare also composes music, and his own songs are an uncanny bridge between pop music's Golden Age, and a 21st century sensibility.

State of the Arts, the award-winning, half-hour arts magazine airs every Friday at 8:30 pm, followed by an encore presentation each Wednesday at 11:30 pm.

The current episode of State of the Arts can be viewed online at www.njn.net. Individual stories will be available to view following their broadcast by visiting the program online at State of the Arts.

Funding for State of the Arts is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The series producer is Susan Wallner and the executive producer is Nila Aronow.