PIANIST CHARLES CHEN REVEALS THE LONG WAY HOME, A QUARTET RECORDING WITH BASSIST BILL CROW, 98, DRUMMER STEVE LITTLE, 91, AND GUITARIST FÉLIX LEMERLE
PAIRING A SET OF STANDARDS WITH A SECOND PROGRAM OF FIRSTHAND ORAL HISTORY FROM TWO NONAGENARIAN JAZZ VETERANS
OUT JUNE 19, 2026 ON CELLAR
The Long Way Home is the upcoming album by pianist Charles Chen, recorded in New York with bassist Bill Crow, drummer Steve Little, and guitarist Félix Lemerle. Captured August 11, 2025 at Bunker Studio and set for release June 19, 2026 on Cellar, it presents a set of standards followed by spoken tracks in which Crow and Little recount their lives in music. It pairs performances with firsthand accounts from the same musicians.
In his liner notes, Chen recounts: when Crow was a teenager he fell asleep at the wheel driving home late at night and drove his car off a cliff. He woke up midair. The car landed in a blackberry bush, breaking the fall; within minutes, he was back on the road. Crow, who came to the bass after arriving in New York as a valve trombonist, went on to work with Stan Getz, Marian McPartland, Gerry Mulligan, and Claude Thornhill, and later documented that world in writing, including his books Jazz Anecdotes (1990) and From Birdland to Broadway (1992). At 98, he continues to perform.
Steve Little, now 91, worked with Duke Ellington late in Ellington’s career — including on …And His Mother Called Him Bill (1967)— before leaving the road and building a career in New York’s studios, orchestras, and television industry. His credits include the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and decades of work on Sesame Street and related productions. He and Crow have known each other since 1955 and continue to play together regularly at Smalls Jazz Club in New York, where they maintain a weekly presence. Lemerle, a Paris-born guitarist based in New York and trained at the CRR de Paris, Queens College, and Juilliard, completes the quartet.
Chen, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, has performed and recorded with Randy Brecker, Billy Drummond, Bob Sheppard, Roy McCurdy, Adam Nussbaum, Mike Richmond, Ralph Moore, Peter Washington, and Kenny Washington. A first-place winner at the 2019 Jazz Search West competition, he has appeared at venues including Yoshi’s and the San Jose Jazz Festival. He frames the session around documenting the musicians as much as the repertoire, centering a rhythm section whose shared history stretches back nearly seven decades.
Oscar Pettiford’s “Laverne Walk” opens the set. “You Turned the Tables on Me” draws on pianistic language associated with the 1930s and ’40s. Cole Porter’s “Dream Dancing,” the album’s first single, unfolds at an unhurried pace. “Squatty Roo” begins with a brief stride figure before settling into swing, and “On the Alamo” features Lemerle on the melody.
“You Send Me” reflects Little’s years in New York’s session world, including work with Sam Cooke. An Ellington medley — “Prelude to a Kiss,” “I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good),” and “Sophisticated Lady” — follows, with the quartet taking turns across successive choruses. “Yours Is My Heart Alone” begins as a waltz before accelerating into the fastest tempo on the record, and “Poor Butterfly” closes the instrumental set with a quiet reference to Madama Butterfly.
The second half of the album consists of spoken remembrances by Little and Crow. Little recalls working with Duke Ellington, including performing without drum charts, and describes the mid-century New York union scene, where thousands of musicians gathered each week. He explains why he left the road after a snowbound engagement with Dave Brubeck and how he built a career across studios, orchestras, and television. Crow’s accounts cover Claude Thornhill, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, and Marian McPartland, along with firsthand memories of Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, and other musicians he worked with and heard early in his career.
Crow and Little represent two distinct paths through the same era: one rooted in bandstands and small groups, the other in orchestras, studios, and television work. They have known each other since 1955 and continue to perform together.
“After our session wrapped, he packed up his bass and drove to a gig two hours away in Connecticut,” Chen writes of Crow. “Even at 98, he’s still driving.”
Track Listing
- Laverne Walk
- You Turned the Tables on Me
- Dream Dancing
- Squatty Roo
- On the Alamo
- You Send Me
- Prelude to a Kiss
- I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good)
- Sophisticated Lady
- Yours Is My Heart Alone
- Poor Butterfly
- Steve Little: Introduction
- Steve Little: Orchestra Years
- Steve Little: Jazz Background
- Steve Little: Commercial Work
- Steve Little: Why I Quit Traveling
- Steve Little: Duke Ellington
- Steve Little: Duke’s Drum Charts
- Steve Little: Charlie Barrett
- Steve Little: Love-Hate Relationship With Jazz
- Steve Little: Memorable Commercial Work
- Steve Little: Copacabana
- Steve Little: Ryo Sasaki and Bill Crow
- Bill Crow: Origins
- Bill Crow: Stan Getz, Claude Thornhill
- Bill Crow: Marian McPartland
- Bill Crow: Gerry Mulligan, Zoot Sims
- Bill Crow: Fred Zimmerman
- Bill Crow: Gerry Mulligan Playing Backgrounds
- Bill Crow: Teddy Wilson
- Bill Crow: Art Tatum, Bud Powell
- Bill Crow: Influences
- Bill Crow: Norman Granz, Picasso
- Bill Crow: Paul Chambers, Curtis Fuller, Miles Davis
- Bill Crow: Jo Jones, Walter Page
- Bill Crow: Charlie Parker