{"id":3041,"date":"2026-06-25T17:40:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T17:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3041"},"modified":"2026-06-25T17:40:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T17:40:24","slug":"jazz-pianist-charles-chens-long-way-album-embraces-old-and-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3041","title":{"rendered":"Jazz pianist Charles Chen’s ‘Long Way’ album embraces old and young"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There is no generation gap in the musical world of Charles Chen.<\/p>\n

The Fremont software engineer and entrepreneur has carved out a bustling career as a jazz pianist, a realm where children of the Great Depression share the bandstand with Gen Z teenagers.<\/p>\n

Read more Apple hikes Mac, iPad prices on memory shortage; shares fall<\/a><\/p>\n

In the coming weeks he\u2019s celebrating the release of his third album, \u201cThe Long Way Home,\u201d a quartet project recorded in New York City with the nonagenarian rhythm section tandem of bassist Bill Crow, 98, and drummer Steve Little, 91.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a record about the people who built jazz and never got famous for it,\u201d said Chen, 38. \u201cBill and Steve are on some of the most famous albums of all time. Bill has played with just about everybody in the history of jazz, but you wouldn\u2019t know who they were because they were sidemen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crow, 98, and Little, 91, won\u2019t be on hand for the album release gigs June 28 at Mr. Tipple\u2019s in San Francisco and July 12 at Oakland\u2019s Piedmont Piano Company. They don\u2019t travel much these days and hold down a long-standing Sunday residency at Smalls Jazz Club in Greenwich Village, where they serve as the house rhythm section for the afternoon jam session.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Chen also performs in two shows at Mr. Tipple\u2019s on July 10, led by New York guitarist F\u00e9lix Lemerle, who\u2019s also featured on \u201cThe Long Way Home.\u201d He and Chen are joined by New York bassist David Wong and Los Angeles drummer Roy McCurdy, whose induction into the nonagenarian club comes November 28.<\/p>\n

Much like Crow and Little, McCurdy played with a succession of jazz giants on classic recordings, including\u00a0the epochal tenor saxophone encounter between Sonny Rollins and his primary influence, Coleman Hawkins (on 1963\u2019s \u201cSonny Meets Hawk!\u201d),\u00a0and Cannonball Adderley\u2019s\u00a0crossover 1966 hit \u201cMercy, Mercy, Mercy,\u201d which was released near the start of his\u00a011-year tenure with the alto sax star.<\/p>\n

For Chen, the opportunity to perform and rub shoulders with jazz elders is an essential part of the music\u2019s allure, an experience he shares with listeners. The first half of \u201cThe Long Way Home\u201d features the quartet swinging elegantly through a set of vintage standards, while the second half consists of Chen\u2019s interviews with Crow and Little, divided into one-to-three minute tracks focusing on particular bands and situations.<\/p>\n

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