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The posting about jazz CD's got me thinking about underrated but well respected jazz pianists who never caught on in spite of their talent, etc. But musicians absolutely love them

Michel Petrucciani and Phineas Newborn come to mind. A current player I admire for his bredth of thought and compositional quality in his solos is a West Coast player Mike Wofford.

Who are yours and what could you recommend someone should listen for in their playing?

The three I listen to the most lately:

Bill Charlap
Alan Pasqua
Tommy Flanagan (sure wish he'd done more trio/solo stuff!)

Michel Petrucciani. Boy do I miss him. What an amazing pianist -- all 3 feet of him. Saw him in Seattle's Jazz Alley in ~1990 with his trio. It really made me sad when he died a few years ago.

Maybe Billy Taylor falls into the category you've described as well. He's admired by people "in the know", but otherwise not hugely popular.

Lets see... A few other names off the top of my head: Michel Camilo, Warren Bernhardt, Ray Bryant, Igor Brill, John Hicks, Cedar Walton.

Mmmm. Cedar Walton. Heard him live in San Diego a couple of times. Never heard him live recently, since Billy Higgins died. Talk about a tight rhythm section. Did you ever get the feeling hearing them that Cedar and Billy shared the same brain?

Cecil Taylor
He takes alot of flak everywhere I see, but I think his stuff is awesome.

A local guy named Miles Black. He's amazing.

There's a guy in a weird jazz band called The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey named Brian Haas, young guy, schooled, the band is simply out of this world, completely in a leaque all their own.. Not sure how to describe the music, but he's an amazing player, classically trained jazz player. (nobody in the band is named Jacob Fred either

There is a piano guy who plays with John Pizzarelli, his name is Ray Kennedy, he is amazing, he as a few CDs out with his brother, the are billed as the Kennedy Brothers. He can play at breakneckspeed and is awesome to listen to.

Larry Flahive - He plays over in Palm Springs and is a teacher at UC Riverside.

Russell Ferrante, Ed Simon, Danilo Perez, Lyle Mays, John Beasley, Alan Pasqua

Lyle Mays - Check him out on "Pictionary" with Jack Dejonette.

Warren Bernhardt - Has a cool set of instructional videos out too

George Duke - Known more for his keyboard work, but can work a piano over and leave it panting.

Steve Kuhn - Played with Coltrane for a bit. Has some really good stuff from his early days.

Dave Frishberg - More of a singer songwriter, but jeeze can he play a friggen piano! Wrote most of the music to the old Schoolhouse Rock commercials of the late 70's.

Conjunction junction, what's your function?

Wow... Did not know that. I knew he could play and write but didn't know that connection to my childhood.

Yeah...Dave seems like one of those people I'd like to talk to about stuff over drinks.

NPR had a really long interview (like 3 hours) with him that I heard while on a cross counrty trip many years ago. It was like getting to know someone. He was really an open and genuinely funny guy.

----

Don Shirley, a visionary who was at his peak in the '50s and '60s. Classically trained (some of it in the Soviet Union, if memory serves), he and his trio played amazingly rich arrangements of ballads, show tunes and spirituals with generous quotations from classical music (e.g., Ravel's "Une Barque sur l'Ocean" and Rach 2) sprinkled throughout. A label with "Collectors" in its name has recently been reissuing some of his old Columbia recordings on CD. Try to get your hands on his arrangement of "Water Boy". You won't believe your ears.

NAK

I've heard Miles Black on Jazz Beat. Great stuff.

We should add Ron Johnston to the list of greats who deserve better exposure.