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Can you guys list good jazz or blues pianists or even songs. I want to open up my ears to blues piano solos and jazz etc so I can build my technique and learn to play better.

My favourites are James Booker and Oscar Peterson.

There are so many. Some others are Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, and Herbie Hancock.

Dave Brubeck ?

James Booker - "Spiders on the Keys"

I second that! Oscar is probably most accessible for the beginning listener -- and Errol Garner. Garner is not a virtuoso, but has a fun bouncy style. Stylistically it is easier to learn than some of the others.

The above are all great jazz artists, but if you are looking to gwet into jazz and blues, and are just starting, I would think their abilities are just a bit out of our league.

I think you might be better off trying something a bit more basic, like some raw early blues piano stuff - Jimmy Yancey, Ray Charles (did a lot of great piano blues and gospel besides his vocal stuff) Jack Dupree, Meade Lux Lewis, Jay MacShann Pinetop Perkins, etc. All good stuff, and are the heart and soul of blues piano. From there, anything is possible.

Jamie

Another vote for the early blues players. Look into books by Eric Kriss for transcriptions, style analysis and history.

Chris

My current favorite jazz player is Brad Mehldau. Try one of his Art of the Trio discs, recorded live at the Village Vanguard in NYC. His most recent is a solo disc recorded live in Japan and I don't think it's very successful.

My ultimate favorite jazz player is Fats Waller, but I don't think I could do without Monk. Find Waller's solos recordings. Unbelieveable.

For blues, I'm partial to Duke Ellington, but that may not be what you have in mind.

Besides Michel Camilo, lauded by me in another thread, another very fine current (vs. dead) jazz pianist is Don Rebic. Here's a trio recording of his:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/donrebic

To hgiles,

I wish I could play like Erroll Garner, about 10% as well even! Ive seen him in concerts 3 times in the 1960's I've bought most of his albums and even a DVD made in 1964 in London. It's called Erroll Garner in Performance. Still available. For a complete self taught pianist who can only play by ear, no theory no sight reading, nothing, he is a genius to my ears. What keys he played in were so utterly difficult too.

If you have only heard him before the 1960s I agree it is more as you describe but he developed a fantastic style into the 70s. He died so young at age 56.

Perhaps it is an aquired taste but I do think he was such an superb jazz piano entertainer and a really nice guy to.

Alan

Well Marcus Roberts is pretty amazing, worked with him at a few workshops and his solos were incredible for a blind man.

Just to add a bit.

Clint Eastwood made a documentary shown on TV here in England about a year ago. This was a collection of 'Blues' piano players, It featured live interviews at the piano with many such as Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Jay Mc Shann, many others too even Clint played a few bars. I do not know who made this recording but it was on Sky Performance here. There is a website for Performance and anyone keen enough may like to see if a contact is there.

I like to watch other pianists on live recordings as it is inspirational to me. You can get a DVD of Bill Evans talking with his brother about how he Bill got into playing jazz. Very instructive to me.

The only problem with Videos and other recording is the shere frustration of seeing camera angles that miss the finger action just at the part you wanted.

Anyone any news about good videos & dvd's on jazz piano live. I have the recent Diana Krall one.

Alan

I think I have this on DVD.

I've always liked the piano music of Mary Lou Williams. There is a certain quality of understatement and subtlety in her music which is quite unlike her more virtuosic contemporaries and which I find very attractive. She was also remarkable in that she was good at writing out what she played and her scores are well worth studying. She also possessed an amazing adaptability and diversity of style. If we compare, say, "Roll'em", "Fandangle", "Mama Pin a Rose on Me" and "A Fungus Amungus" the degree of versatility while preserving her essential musical personality is amazing.

I just wish that more of her solo recordings and scores were readily available.

Gene Harris is soo sweet. Try the Live at Maybeck Cd if you want to hear solo piano. When I grow up I wanna sound like that..

Alan - can you give us the name of that DVD?

Just stuck my head in here and saw this thread - the Bill Evans recording is called "The Universal Mind of Bill Evans". It's great - mostly dialog with his brother Harry, but he plays a number of songs also.
I've been listening to the Maybeck Recital series lately - there must be about 40 of them, and not a dud among them - all solo piano.

Too bad Eric Lewis (current T. Monk Piano champion) doesn't have anything out under his name (that I know of if he does please tell me) or I would definately suggest him. Utterly amazing in his harmonic and rythmic skills though he might be too advaced for an untrained listener.

Alan,
Anecdotal evidence suggests that Garner actually could read well enough to understand what was going on in music. Perhaps he couldn't 'sight-read' as well as some would expect him to.

Self-taught? Self-learned for sure. Everyone has a teacher on some level, even if it's other musicians he is gigging with. Experience and exposure certainly taught him something.

No theory? I assure you he knew some theory. Maybe he didn't know the terminology, but he certainly knew how one chord moves to the next and how one scale might move to the next. That's theory.

Difficult keys? Is there such a thing, really? It's relative. The keys are obviously not difficult for him. If you played 75% of your tunes in Eb and Ab and played 10 hours a day you'd be good there too.

Having said that, I revere and respect the man's abilities as a pianist, no doubt. But I don't handicap him because of the myths that perpetuate about him. I think it's kind of a put-down when this stuff is said about him, although the same anecdotal evidence suggests he encouraged people to believe these falsities about him.

Garner was an excellent piano player period! I, too, wish I had 10% of his ability.