16 Jazz Pianists

George s Top 10 Jazz Pianists

1. Oscar Peterson 2. Errol Garner 3. George Shearing/Milt Buckner 4. Red Garland 5. Wynton Kelly 6. Bill Evans 7. Herbie Hancock 8. McCoy Tyner 9. Chick Corea 10. Keith Jarrett 11. Hank Jones 12. Ahmad Jamal 13. Phineas Newborn

Oscar Peterson

 Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career. He is considered to have been one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time,[3] having played thousands of live concerts to audiences worldwide in a career lasting more than 60 years.

 Caravan Summertime, from 1972 night train 1962

Errol Garner

 Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1923[1] January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad "Misty", has become a jazz standard. Allmusic.com calls him "one of the most distinctive of all pianists" and a "brilliant virtuoso"

 I'll Remember April from Concert By The Sea The Way You Look Tonight from 1951-2 I Get A Kick Out Of You

George Shearing/Milt Buckner

 Sir George Shearing, OBE (August 13, 1919 February 14, 2011) was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s. He died of heart failure on February 14, 2011 in New York City, at the age of 91.

 Milt Buckner (10 July 1915 27 July 1977) was an American jazz pianist and organist, originally from St. Louis, Missouri. He was orphaned as a child, but an uncle in Detroit (trombone player John Tobias) taught him to play. Buckner pioneered the parallel chords style which influenced Red Garland, George Shearing, Bill Evans, and Oscar Peterson. He first played in Detroit with the McKinney Cotton Pickers and then with Cab Calloway. In 1941 he joined Lionel Hampton's big band, and for the next seven years served as its pianist and staff arranger. He led a short-lived band of his own for two years, but then returned to Hampton's in 1950. In 1952, he formed his own group. He often played in Europe in the late 60's. Buckner pioneered the use of the electric organ. He died in Chicago, Illinois at the age of sixty-two.

Block Chord Parade The Beast(from Muholland Drive) Swedish Pastry-George Shearing Conception

Red Garland

 William "Red" Garland (May 13, 1923 April 23, 1984) was an American hard bop jazz pianist whose block chord style, in part originated by Milt Buckner, influenced many forthcoming pianists in the jazz idiom.

 Garland's trademark block chord technique, a commonly borrowed maneuver in jazz piano today, was unique and differed from the methods of earlier block chord pioneers such as George Shearing and Milt Buckner. Garland's block chords were constructed of three notes in the right hand and four notes in the left hand, with the right hand one octave above the left. Garland's left hand played four note chords that simultaneously beat out the same exact rhythm as the right hand melody played. But, unlike George Shearing's block chord method, Garland's left hand chords did not change positions or inversions until the next chord change occurred. It's also worth noting that Garland's four note left hand chord voicings occasionally left out the roots of the chords, which later became a chord style associated with pianist Bill Evans. Garland's block chord method had a brighter quality, slightly more dissonance, and a fullness in the upper register compared to the mellower Shearing block chord sound. Garland's solo lines also had a glassy, shimmering tone that matched the quality of his chords.

Billy Boy from Milestones A more "simple" version of Billy Boy Birk's Works Will You Still Be Mine?

. Wynton Kelly

 Wynton Kelly (December 2, 1931 April 12, 1971) was a Jamaican-born jazz pianist, who spent his career in the United States. He is perhaps best known for working with trumpeter Miles Davis from 1959-1962. I loved the Wynton played, because he was a combination of Red Garland and Bill Evans; he could play almost anything. Plus, he could play behind a soloist like a m^%*((%$r, man. Cannonball and Trane loved him, and so did I". Miles Davis

 Autumn Leaves On Green Dolphin Street On Stage, from Kelly At Midnight

Bill Evans

 William John Evans, known as Bill Evans (August 16, 1929 September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, John Taylor, Steve Kuhn, Don Friedman, Marian McPartland, Denny Zeitlin, Bobo Stenson, Warren Bernhardt, Michel Petrucciani and Keith Jarrett, as well as many other musicians world-wide. The music of Bill Evans continues to inspire younger pianists like Fred Hersch, Bill Charlap, Lyle Mays, Eliane Elias and arguably Brad Mehldau, early in his career. He is considered by some to be the most influential post-World War II jazz pianist. Evans had a distinct playing style in which his neck would often be stooped very low, and his face parallel to the piano.

 Some Other Time, from Everybody Digs Bill Evans With Sam Jones and Philly Joe Jones Was a bonus track You and The Night and The Music, featuring a young Freddie Hubbard from Interplay Young and Foolish with Tony Bennett

 Bill Evans and the Creative Process B Minor Waltz from You Must Believe In Spring

Herbie Hancock

 Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock (b. April 12, 1940) is an American pianist, keyboardist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound. He was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace music synthesizers and funk music (characterized by syncopated drum beats). Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "cross over" and achieved success among pop audiences. His music embraces elements of funk and soul while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz. In his jazz improvisation, he possesses a unique creative blend of jazz, blues, and modern classical music, with harmonic stylings much like the styles of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Hancock's best-known solo works include "Cantaloupe Island", "Watermelon Man" (later performed by dozens of musicians, including bandleader Mongo Santamara), "Maiden Voyage", "Chameleon", and the singles "I Thought It Was You" and "Rockit". His 2007 tribute album River: The Joni Letters won the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, only the second jazz album ever to win the award after Getz/Gilberto in 1965.

Dolphin Dance The Sorcerer Wiggle Waggle Rain Dance Chameleon Actual Proof Eye Of The Hurricane Rockit

McCoy Tyner

 SHAPING MODERN JAZZ... Tyner's blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. His harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a majority of jazz pianists. Born in 1938 in Philadelphia, he became a part of the fertile jazz and R&B scene of the early '50s. His parents imbued him with a love for music from an early age. His mother encouraged him to explore his musical interests through formal training.

 At 17 he began a career-changing relationship with Miles Davis' sideman saxophonist John Coltrane. Tyner joined Coltrane for the classic album My Favorite Things (1960), and remained at the core of what became one of the most seminal groups in jazz history, The John Coltrane Quartet. The band, which also included drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Jimmy Garrison, had an extraordinary chemistry, fostered in part by Tyner's almost familial relationship with Coltrane. From 1960 through 1965, Tyner's name was propelled to international renown, as he developed a new vocabulary that transcended the piano styles of the time, providing a unique harmonic underpinning and rhythmic charge essential to the group's sound. He performed on Coltrane's classic recordings such as Live at the Village Vanguard, Impressions and Coltrane's signature suite, A Love Supreme.

 Passion Dance The Greeting

Chick Corea

 Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (born June 12, 1941) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer. Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever. Along with Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett, he has been described as one of the major jazz piano voices to emerge in the post-John Coltrane era. His career has been driven by his will to operate as a free agent and compulsively explore different avenues of music making. This hunger has positioned him as an important catalyst in the world of serious, mainstream acoustic jazz, and he is one of the most influential and widely studied figures in the last 40 years

Matrix Circle-Quartet Piece Number 3 Spain Hymn Of The 7th Galaxy Got A Match?

Keith Jarrett

 Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945, in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music; as a group leader and a solo performer. His improvisations draw not only from the traditions of jazz, but from other genres as well, especially Western classical music, gospel, blues, and ethnic folk music.

 Koln Concert part 1 Autumn Leaves

Hank Jones

 Henry "Hank" Jones (July 31, 1918 May 16, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable.In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored him with the NEA Jazz Masters Award. [He was also honored in 2003 with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Jazz Living Legend Award. In 2008, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. On April 13, 2009, the University of Hartford presented Jones with a Doctorate Degree for his musical accomplishments. Jones recorded over sixty albums under his own name, and countless others as a sideman.

Ahmad Jamal

 Ahmad Jamal (born July 2, 1930 as Frederick Russell Jones) is an innovative and influential American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. According to Stanley Crouch, Jamal is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Charlie Parker. For five decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz. Since the 1980s Jamal has been regularly touring the major clubs of the United States and the large European jazz festivals. He is generally accompanied by bassist James Cammack and drummer Idris Muhammad. He has also performed regularly with saxophonist George Coleman.

Phineas Newborn

 Phineas Newborn, Jr. (December 14, 1931 in Whiteville, Tennessee May 26, 1989 in Memphis, Tennessee) was an American jazz pianist, whose principal influences were Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson and Bud Powell. Newborn came from a musical family with his father, Phineas Newborn, Sr., being a blues musician and his younger brother, Calvin, a jazz guitarist. Phineas studied piano as well as trumpet, and tenor and baritone saxophone.

 Although Phineas was not a celebrity, he was highly regarded by knowledgeable Jazz fans, especially in the 1950's and 60's. ''In his prime, he was one of the three greatest jazz pianists of all time, right up there with Bud Powell and Art Tatum,'' said the late Leonard Feather, who for many years served as a Jazz critic for Downbeat magazine and The Los Angeles Times. There was a time when Phineas looked set for stardom, but mental problems forced him to return to Memphis in the '60s, where he spent his remaining years struggling against the alcohol and drug problems that exacerbated an already fragile emotional state.