Holy crap! I saw this live and omg, that intro was unreal. Does anyone know where I can find a recording of the whole set, it was literally one of the best things I’ve ever heard!
He was great when he was 14-15 years old. My closest friend went to High School with "Billy" Charlap. We went to Billy's mother's apartment and got wasted with him and he played for us.
@henrywasserman In August 1982, Dizzy Gillespie gave a free concert in Washington Square park with a 17 piece band. Tito Puente opened up with a 9 piece ensemble. I ran into Bill Charlap or Billy as he was known to me in the audience. Believe it or not.
Billy was there with a kid from Staten Island who played trombone. On that court date the trombone section included JJ Johnson, Wayne Andre, Curtis Fuller out of Detroit and Jimmy Knepper from Staten Island. Bill Watrous called in sick.
