part1sts Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 who are the best jazz pianists to listen to as far as skill and composition go...? Together we stand, Divided we fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Winger Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Wide open question. Here's a couple: Bill Evans Thelonius Monk Dave Brubeck Vince Guaraldi I'm sure you'll get a boatload more suggestions. Cheers, Mark "I don't know anything about music. In my line, you don't have to." -Elvis Presley (1935-1977) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marino Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Here are some of my favorites: SWING ERA: Fats WallerArt TatumJames P. JohnsonEarl HinesTeddy Wilson BEBOP: Bud PowellThelonious Monk 'COOL JAZZ': Lennie TristanoJohn Lewis HARD BOP: Wynton KellyRed Garland Erroll Gardner 'MODERN' JAZZ, MODAL JAZZ: Bill EvansMcCoy Tyner and their "children": Chick CoreaKeith JarrettHerbie Hancock more recently: Gordon BeckBilly ChildsBrad Meldhau and many others. For electronic jazz players, check Joe Zawinul and Russell Ferrante at the very least, plus the aforementioned Corea and Hancock. Please keep in mind that those categories are very generic; I included them just to give some chronological/stylistic order to the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linwood Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 http://www.geoffreykeezer.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88keys4me Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Marino's list was (not unexpectedly) quite comprehensive. But he did omit (IMHO) one of the very best - Oscar Peterson. However, I'm glad he did include one of my all time favorites: Red Garland. Listen to Red on "Art Pepper meets The Rhythm Section", widely regarded as one of the landmark albums released in 1957. His virtuosity and phrasing are impressive, and will give you some ideas for playing standards at a level well above typical fake book charts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88keys4me Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 One quick addition for more modern stuff: David Benoit and Michel Camilo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moj Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Many of the greats have already been mentioned. Here's a list of some of my favorite current players. Tardo Hammer - Bebop pianist from NY. He's about one of the finest bebop players today. http://home.earthlink.net/~tardo/Recordings.html Makoto Ozone - Great modern jazz player from Japan. Good composer and outstanding technique. http://www.makotoozone.com/eng/disc.html Walter Norris - Great pianist/composer based in Germany. Original complex modern style. http://home.snafu.de/walter.norris/download_info.htm Jon Weber - Amazing wealth of piano playing styles. His solo piano work is a combination of Tatum/McKenna styles with modern harmonisations. He will be on Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland on Feb. 8. http://www.jonwebermusic.com/music.htm Tom Grant - He is known for his *smooth jazz* recordings. I don't care for most of his *smooth jazz* stuff, but his *Solo Piano* recording is very impressive. Original compostions that are very different from his other stuff. Great touch/technique. I wish he would do more recordings like this. http://tomgrant.com/solopiano.html Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland - a weekly radio program on National Public Radio. Every week she interviews and performs with a guest musician. http://www.npr.org/programs/pianojazz/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Folkson Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Bill Charlap. - Jan Folkson http://www.janfolkson.com "How do you know when it's music and not just a bunch of noise" - Dennis the Menace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnegrad Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Marino, Based on the above, I think we'd good friends.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niacin Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 You left out Miles' favourite 'cocktail pianist' - Ahmad Jamal. There's a live DVD just out which is pretty phenomenal. His touch and use of dynamics is second to no one. With Art Pepper also check the 4 nights recorded live at the Village Vanguard with George Cables. Very underrated. Tommy Flanagan. And if you like Monk check out Jean-Michel Pilc. Short of neither technique nor musical ideas. Enjoy, Peter Gig keys: Hammond SKpro, Korg Vox Continental, Crumar Mojo 61, Crumar Mojo Pedals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niacin Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Marino,just went off and listened to a few audio clips of Gordon Beck, who I hadn't heard before, and I'm wondering if you could make some suggestions re your favourite recordings of his.thanks,Peter Gig keys: Hammond SKpro, Korg Vox Continental, Crumar Mojo 61, Crumar Mojo Pedals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erlic Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Gene Harris would be another good choice for pianist as well. I personally like his style. _____________ Erlic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod S Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Originally posted by 88keys4me: One quick addition for more modern stuff: David Benoit and Michel Camilo.and Gonzalo Rubalcaba, since you mentioned Camilo. I have to put the plug in for someone local too Eliane Elias. http://www.elianeelias.com/index.shtml Korg Kronos X73 / ARP Odyssey / Motif ES Rack / Roland D-05 / JP-08 / SE-05 / Jupiter Xm / Novation Mininova / NL2X / Waldorf Pulse II MBP-LOGIC American Deluxe P-Bass, Yamaha RBX760 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnegrad Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Originally posted by niacin: You left out Miles' favourite 'cocktail pianist'Man, I 've always hated that expression, "cocktail pianist". I usually see it used when referring to Bill Evans and now Ahmad Jamal? To me it's a very demeaning and condescending term, used by those who can't deal with the intricacy and elegance of a cerebral solo pianist. But of course, people love to disparage that which they don't understand.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magpel Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 One more addendum to Marino's list: Nat Cole. Check out the Sweet Clementines CD at bandcamp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Zeger Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Omissions: Duke Ellington Count Basie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnegrad Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Wynton KellyPhil MarkowitzJoey CalderazzoMarc CoplandJohn Beasley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guestuserguestuser.com Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Anyone mention Benny Green yet? Dick Hyman? Geoff Keezer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziquo Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Cedar Walton Bobby Timmons Kenny Barron Michel Petrucciani Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postman Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Nobody mentioned Michel Camilo? Hmmm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Horne Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Some of these names were already mentioned. My personal favorites are Oscar Peterson, Teddy Wilson and George Shearing. I haven't heard Hank Jones for a while, but he is a solid player. Dick Hyman is probably the overall best piano player in my personal opinion. His command of various styles is amazing, that plus he plays flawlessly. He's probably better known for arranging the music for several Woody Allan films. No guitarists were harmed during the making of this message. In general, harmonic complexity is inversely proportional to the ratio between chording and non-chording instruments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calumet Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Richie Beirach. My band Thousand Houses: www.thousandhouses.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kad Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Monty Alexander Reality is like the sun - you can block it out for a time but it ain't goin' away... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EoS Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Randy Weston! Enemy of Silence.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyprof Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Phineas Newborn: he pretty much invented the rapid-fire unison solo lines, two octaves apart. Awesome technique. Sonny Clark: late, great West Coast hardbop improvisor. "Playing the piano is my greatest joy, next to my wife; it is my most absorbing interest, next to my work." ...Charles Cooke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKeys Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 I don't think I saw two of my fav's Joe Sample (Crusaders and solo) Bob James (Four Play) I just saw Bob with Four Play about 2 months ago and he is just so tasteful. Jimmy Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others. Groucho NEW BAND CHECK THEM OUT www.steveowensandsummertime.com www.jimmyweaver.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzrich9 Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 check out Uri Caine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Horne Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Man, I 've always hated that expression, "cocktail pianist". I usually see it used when referring to Bill Evans and now Ahmad Jamal? To me it's a very demeaning and condescending term, used by those who can't deal with the intricacy and elegance of a cerebral solo pianist. I've made a great deal of my living as a cocktail pianist - it's not demeaning at all to me. It takes a fair amount of technique (as a minimum) to play solo piano. I remember my first ventures as a solo pianist, playing an hour before the rest of the band showed up - thank goodness there's no recordings to be used as evidence. Another name for the list of pianists - Ellis Larkins. (As an aside, I worked eight years or so with Jimmy Cammack who is now the bassist with Ahmad Jamal (né Fritz Jones). No guitarists were harmed during the making of this message. In general, harmonic complexity is inversely proportional to the ratio between chording and non-chording instruments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnegrad Posted January 26, 2005 Share Posted January 26, 2005 I've made a great deal of my living as a cocktail pianistSo have I. I suspect we have much in common. it's not demeaning at all to me. Then you haven't heard it used in the contexts that I've heard it used in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linwood Posted January 26, 2005 Share Posted January 26, 2005 Being a cocktail pianist is a huge step up from what I am. I'm a jingle guy. Btw,Dave, I thought your GFI changes were great. You were able to do it in a way that the composer would have loved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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