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Thetenbestjazzpianistsofalltime|Westword

The ten best jazz pianists of all time

BY JON SOLOMON

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013 AT 8 A.M.

William P. Gottlieb

With the exception of players like Thelonious Monk or Art Tatum,

piano players don't quite have the name recognition of their horn
playing counterparts. All the same, these ivory ticklers play an
equally integral role in jazz. As such, just like our lists of the ten best
sax players and ten best trumpeters, we put due effort into
compiling this rundown of jazz's most virtuosic and compelling
piano players. Keep reading for the ten best pianists of all time.
See also: Ten essential jazz albums if you know squat about jazz

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10. Ahmad Jamal While some pianists favored a heavy handed approach to the piano,
83-year-old Ahmad Jamal favors a lighter touch, and his use of space between the notes
was said to have a great inuence on Miles Davis. While

At the Pershing: But Not For Me

recorded at Chicago's Pershing Hotel in 1958, is hailed as one of his greatest recordings,
Jamal also released a number of stellar trio recordings, including some early '70s
Impulse! releases, like

The Awakening

and

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, as well as 2010's

Freeflight

A Quiet Time

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9. Oscar Peterson Over his six-plus decade long career, Canadian Oscar Peterson, who
passed away in 2007 at the age of 82, won eight Grammys and played more than 200
recordings. The nimble-ngered pianist showed promise as a young child, and he
started gigging professionally as a teenager. Inuenced heavily by Art Tatum, Peterson
released a number of outstanding albums on Verve throughout the '50s and '60s,
including
, which also featured Lester
The President Plays with the Oscar Peterson Trio

Young, and

Night Train

, one of his most famous discs.

Chick Corea Akoustic Band - Spain

8. Chick Corea Since getting his start playing gigs in high school, Chick Corea has gone
on to release dozens of outstanding discs under his own name, platters like
Sings, Now He Sobs

and

Now He

. After playing on Miles Davis's late '60s/early

My Spanish Heart

'70s jazz-rock fusion albums

and
, the prodigious 72-year-old
pianist helped propel fusion even more with various incarnations of Return to Forever.
In a Silent Way

Bitches Brew

Corea reunited the band's classic line-up of Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola and Lenny White
to tour in 2008.

Keith Jarrett Standards Trio

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7. Keith Jarrett Not only a virtuosic and prolic jazz pianist, 68-year-old Keith Jarrett,
who will receive National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters awards in January, has
recorded quite a few brilliant classical albums throughout his forty-plus year career.
Over the last three decades, Jarrett's Standards Trio, which includes bassist Gary
Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette, has released a number of great discs on ECM,
all of which showcase superb musicianship and interplay between the three. Jarrett's
solo work is equally as highly touted, especially
which is a tour de force in live improvisation.

, recorded in 1975,

The Kln Concert

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