Married Music: Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes Bringing Jazz to Edmonds

There’s no doubt that musicians who perform as a duo know each other’s musical moods. They're intimately familiar with musical cues, chord changes and solo opportunites.

Jazz pianists Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes know all this and more. The duo, who perform Saturday at the , have been married for four years.

The show is part of the annual Earshot Jazz Festival held at various locations in Puget Sound.

They are both established solo artists, and in 2010 released a four-hand piano duet recording titled Double Portrait.

Charlap grew up with music in his blood. His father, Moose Charlap, was a Broadway composer and songwriter and his mother, Sandy Stewart, is a popular song singer who performed with Benny Goodman, co-starred on TV's Perry Como Show and scored a Grammy nomination for her 1962 hit single, “My Coloring Book.”

Charlap has recorded seven albums as a leader or co-leader for the Blue Note label label, including two Grammy-nominated CDs: Somewhere, featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein, and The Bill Charlap Trio, Live At The Village Vanguard.

Rosnes, a native of Vancouver, BC, has recorded with many of the masters, including stints with Joe Henderson, JJ Johnson, Wayne Shorter and James Moody. From 2004 through 2009, Renee held the piano chair for the SFJAZZ Collective, an all-star ensemble that featured many contemporary luminaries. On her own, Rosness has released 12 albums, four of which have received Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy.

Charlap and Rosnes now live in New Jersey.

Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes perform Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Edmond Centers for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N. Tickets, $15-$35, are available online at www.ec4arts.org or by calling 425-275-9595. To learn how you can get tickets for half price, go the ECA’s Facebook page.