Don't forget Garry Wright and his guitar style stage keyboard.

amen to the comment on ben folds, he is an amazing performer

I absolutely idolize ray charles. but also i like stevie wonder, norah jones, alicia keys, dave brubeck and thelonious monk.

Sorry to be late to the party Steve, but my favorite would be "When I look in your eyes".

However, here latest "The girl in the other room" is absolutely awesome too. She wrote the music to about half the tunes and her husband Elvis Costello helped arrange the lyrics.

Check out some short clips on her website:

http://dianakrall.com/music3.aspx

Thanks John!.

Another good DVD is:- Diana Krall live at the Montreal Jazz Festival 2004 on Verve.

Is the 'Live in Paris' a DVD? Please

Alan

Live in Paris is both DVD and CD although I think the DVD has a couple of bonus tracks.

Is anyone here English? Or have heard of Muse?

Matt Bellamy is a terrific pianist (as well as an amazing guitarist / singer / songwriter). His piano parts are often epic, dark but glorious, like superimposing some romantic piano (e.g. Sibelius, Chopin) on to rock music. Very powerful if you don't mind heavy rock. Very worth checking out?

What are people's opinions on Jamie Cullum? (Again maybe only known in England).

And what about Coldplay's Chris Martin? His piano parts are simple but beautiful, technically maybe not that difficult but a tribute to his musical ability.

Anyway, I could keep going... but I won't.

Paul

She's got a great style, poetic lyrics, and is not too hard on the eyes!

But... for non classical -- my favs are Tom Waits (who combines that gravelled drunken voice with the sweetest piano) and Roy Bittan (who backs for Springsteen, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, David Bowie... for a great intro listen to the piano back on Thunder Road.

As far as non-classical, i do like some of the
"new-age pianoist from Windham Hill & Narada. George Winston and David Lanz come to mind.

Jordan Rudess is also a great piano player.
His site is:
http://www.jordanrudess.com
He also plays synthesizer with Dream Theater but his piano work is brilliant.
I really like black ice and Furia Taurina from the live album: John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess “An Evening With…”.

----------------
Nelis

Bob Milne, it's not even close....

Odd that you should mention that. Bob Milne is my favorite pianist also.

Doug

David Thomas Roberts, Frank French, Scott Kirby, John Arpin, Reginald Robinson, Guido Neilsen. I see Reggie has just won a $500,000 grant.

Reginald Robinson

I'm pleased about this because I've been telling everybody for years that I think he's good.

Hey Ted2,

I like all of your pianists, too....Ever see John Gill? He's in Australia...relatively close to you....

ragtimebg:

I haven't actually met any of these people, although David's publisher is a friend going back around eight years, when I first found the contemporary ragtimers via the internet. I wrote letters asking for scores and recordings and they were all very helpful. Ragtime interest in New Zealand is negligible. I would like to attend the festivals in Sedalia and Denver but work and the cost due to the exchange rate has stopped me so far.

I have played and written ragtime since I was young but it is only in recent years that really good scores and recordings have become available, again because of the internet - the stores here don't carry them. I've only ever spoken to David once over the phone but he's a fascinating musical personality. I think he is at last starting to write out his "New Orleans Streets", instead of carrying it around in his head and on scraps of paper but I don't think we would be wise to hold our breath.

Myself, I play most of James Scott, some of Joplin and a selection by David, Frank (Bucktown Buck is a good piece), Reggie and Hal Isbitz. I have written a reasonable amount of ragtime over the years, despite being preoccupied mainly with other genres and improvisation.

One good thing is the large number of excellent transcriptions now available e.g. Morton (Dapogny), Waller (Posnak), Johnson (Scivales.

Yes, I do have John Gill's CD and he's probably the best I've heard in that particular style.

I'm a big fan of Ben Folds as well. He's pretty crazy on stage. I've never seen anyone elbow the piano to finish a song before him.

Jamie Cullum has a good stage presence and a swinging, funky style on the piano too. I think he should be nicer to his instruments though. He must have seen a few Ben Folds shows, though I have never seen/heard Ben Folds yet.

My music teacher at school recommended Diana Krall to me, and lent me a few CDs.. I fell in love immediately! Her emotional lyrics pair up nicely with her pianism. Really enjoyable!

I would add Liz Story to the mix. She also had the good sense to marry a good stand up bass man.

ChT

No one mentions Jools Holland in this forum. Whether you like boogie woogie or not, he is the man