Best Jazz Pianist Ever

**mr. beaumont** · 04-07-2015, 10:28 PM

Originally Posted by Patrick2

Wow! And here I thought I was the only one who felt that way. The boring repetion of his left hand would sometimes drive me to thinking . . "please . . do something different". But, then other times I'd hear him play and realize that what I had heard in other songs was not due to any lacking in capability. Sometimes his left hand really comp'd beautifully. Other times it sounded like they just couldn't find anything else to play. But, hey . . I'm just a sub novice jazz guitarist being critical of a master jazz pianist. That in itself is kinda silly.

I was saying it isn't boring...actually. Rhythmically, it's crazy, for example. And it's a lot more than stacked fifths harmonically, too.

**Patrick2** · 04-07-2015, 10:38 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

I was saying it isn't boring...actually. Rhythmically, it's crazy, for example. And it's a lot more than stacked fifths harmonically, too.

Mis understood you. I've got to look for the two tunes where he just drove me fits with the lack of movement in what his left hand was doing. I'll spin one of them up, if I find them, then you can tell me if I'm just misinterpreting what he's doing. If so . . it wouldn't surprise me.

**don_oz** · 12-20-2018, 02:56 PM

Tough choice but it's between Art Tatum and Bud Powell.

**Greentone** · 12-20-2018, 03:14 PM

Maybe folks should think of it this way: (1) Who do I most want to listen to...who most inspires me? (2) Who would I most want to play with?

I am definitely most inspired by Bill Evans.

I would most want to play with Herbie Hancock. His style(s) would buoy my playing the most.

As I reflect back on the situations I have played in through the years, the best pianist I played with was a guy influenced heavily by Evans and Hancock.

**coolvinny** · 12-20-2018, 03:36 PM

I vote Sonny Clark even though he wasn't much of an innovator. I just like his playing the best. For example, I think Hampton Hawes was a better player but I prefer Sonny's more blues-based and thematic approach..yet also very rooted in bop and he could definitely burn. Sonny's album "The Art of Trio" GET IT AND THANK ME LATER

Also, find Sonny's recording of "A Foggy Day" with Buddy De Franco (clarinet). His intro/outro and solo on that...I just don't think it gets better.

**2bornot2bop** · 12-20-2018, 08:36 PM

Student pianists, for the past 30 plus years, in large numbers mention McCoy Tyner as most influential to them.

As a piano player if you sat in a small jazz club 20 feet from McCoy perhaps you too would feel a sense of privilege!

My personal favorites, who I listen to repeatedly, are Keith Jarrett from his trio days forward, Gene Harris post his association with Ray Brown, and of course McCoy Tyner.

**wintermoon** · 12-21-2018, 03:51 PM

Not the "best" but Wynton Kelly was pretty great.

**tamirgal** · 12-22-2018, 07:32 AM

Bud Powell
Sonny Clark
Barry Harris

**princeplanet** · 12-22-2018, 11:43 AM

I've been listening a lot to Portrait in Jazz by Bill Evans this week. I was becoming more and more overwhelmed with just how astonishing his playing is there. Now, I'm no stranger to being astonished, and I can certainly say Bird, Trane, Cannonball, Rollins, Dexter, Getz, Wes etc have blown my head off. (and still do, always will... I hope) But I think, and I say this very carefully, that Evans astonished me the most!

I even went back and listened to Tatum and OP, just to be certain that it wasn't just the "Piano" that was overwhelming me (well, the well played piano is more impressive than just about any other instrument- no question), and as much as I love a little grandstanding by those 2 titans, Evans seemed more supple, inventive, surprising, varied, displayed more dynamic as well as emotional range and incorporated greater harmonic complexity. Like with Rollins and Wes, I hang on every single note and am on the edge of my seat like I'm watching a tight rope act. Just so darn compelling!

So for those reasons, this week Bill shoots to the top of my hit parade. And for the same reasons, Jarrett's Standards Trio work moves in to take second slot.

**coolvinny** · 12-24-2018, 03:40 PM

I would Agree that Evans' Portrait In Jazz is astonishing. It was my morning wake-up music for about three years and I never got tired of it. I think eventually I just had to burn the CD in a new computer and that was the only reason I removed it.

**fep** · 12-24-2018, 06:27 PM

Not wanting to get in the "best" classification, but one of my favorites is this self taught youngster who I've been following for the last several years. He's now 15 years old.

**2bornot2bop** · 12-24-2018, 08:51 PM

Originally Posted by Greentone

2bop,

I feel neglectful in not mentioning Gene Harris. Great talent.

Hey GT! Yes, but I have to admit I'm a Gene Harris homer. I must have seen him perform over a dozen times. There was an 8 or 9 year stretch before his passing that he played Seattle's Jazz Alley. What a classy guy too! Very approachable during set breaks. Gene had such a relaxed in the pocket rhythm. Several years Ron Eschete appeared with Gene. Great live jazz piano, it doesn't get any better than that! I recently saw Joey Defrancesco at the alley, and JD tore it up! Happy holidays GT!

And a shout out to the great Chico Freeman, here performing with George Cables, Chico's 'to hear a teardrop in the rain'...just because! There are an endless number of truly great jazz pianists!

**princeplanet** · 12-25-2018, 10:11 AM

Originally Posted by coolvinny

I would Agree that Evans' Portrait In Jazz is astonishing. It was my morning wake-up music for about three years and I never got tired of it. I think eventually I just had to burn the CD in a new computer and that was the only reason I removed it.

Yet, it rarely appears high on the list of people's fave Bill Evans Albums.

But everything he did with Motian and LeFaro is pure gold, so take your pick I s'pose...

**oldane** · 12-25-2018, 01:02 PM

Art Tatum and Bud Powell for me.

Almost all jazz musicians back then considered Tatum the eighth wonder of the world. His playing was so fluid and seemed so easy - which of course it wasn't. It was hard work and he practiced long hours at home to keep himself on top of the competition.

Powell - like Tatum - was classically trained and also a great technician. He admired Tatum endlessly. Powell managed to play with high dedication and great artistic honesty throughout his carreer - despite all odds. He suffered from schizophrenia and from the mid 1950s onwards he was treated with neuroleptic drugs whose motor side effects affected his virtuosity and precision at the keyboard but IMO he managed to compensate by digging deeper emotionally and what he lost in speed he gained in the voicings and the way he let them ring.

Tatum, who was very competitive and knew he was the best technician of them all, also respected Powell. There's story going that Tatum had needled Powell and his fellow bop pianists for having a weak left hand. Powell responded by playing the next set with his left hand only. Tatum then said to a friend: "I was wrong. He sure has a strong left hand - but don't tell him I said that." Well, Tatums friend did tell Powell whose jubilations knew no limits. An approval from Tatum was like being blessed by God himself. At jam sessions Tatum usually waited so he could be the last man to play - and when he had finished, the other pianists seriously considered if they should have become carpenters instead.

Another story is about Fats Waller. Waller was playing at a club when Tatum entered the room. Waller then announced to the audience: "You know, I play the piano, but God is in the house to night."

**Cunamara** · 12-25-2018, 11:21 PM

Originally Posted by goldenwave77

The reason Oscar Peterson is not the greatest jazz pianist ever, IMO, is that his groups are far from the greatest. He may be very good at playing the piano is a jazz style--but Tatum could play rings around him. Tatum also was not a fellow who brought out the best in other musicians---they were 2nd bananas to his playing. (I also think Tatum's playing sometimes is not even improvisation--but rather incredibly ornamented and curlicued elaborations of the main work. It is almost as if his technical facility, and desire to show it, gets in the way of his saying anything authentic.)

This is a challenge for all technically facile musicians. The ones who have to fight against the limits of their technique are often more interesting because of those limits. I'd rather listen to Keith Richards than Yngwie, you know? But on the other end of the spectrum, not having enough facility stands in the way of expression.

**Thumpalumpacus** · 12-26-2018, 12:23 AM

Originally Posted by MarkRhodes

A pianist once told me that many pianists were jealous of Oscar's brilliant technique and started saying he was 'all flash,' 'not serious' and the like. Shame. Guy was a brilliant player.

New reply to an old post -- it's strange to read him being called "all flash", as I listen to his All the Best. He does have moments of flash, but he hits my ears as very melodic, it's very easy for me to hear his thoughts unfold. He obviously had chops, but just as obviously didn't kowtow to them.

ETA: Just want to say thanks for the thread ... stopped reading and started jamming with OP's album mentioned above, good lord what fun. No neighbors were harmed ... I hope.

**cosmic gumbo** · 12-26-2018, 04:42 AM

I thought Monk could say the "most" rhythmically, harmonically, and melodically, with the least amount of notes of any other pianist.

**Tom Karol** · 12-26-2018, 11:14 AM

Did read the entire thread; I may have even posted in it a few years ago. But ...
The idea of "best" seems silly to me.
I will say, however, that OP is my personal favorite. (Ray Brown is also my personal favorite bass player.):

**edward74** · 01-08-2019, 05:49 PM

Some favorite pianist...Thelonious Monk (probably one of the most original on the instrument), Erroll Garner (some of the most joyous playing ever), Fats Waller (one of many stride masters I dig), Count Basie (happy sparse phrases)... Living masters at piano Marcus Roberts, Eric Reed, Fred Hersch, Diana Krall and, despite his many interest as an entertainer, Connick is pretty amazing and was my first intro to the art of jazz piano.

Also, kudos to Marian McPartland and her Piano Jazz radio show. Lots of pianist I've learned about from that broadcast.

**jbavettajazz** · 01-08-2019, 05:58 PM

Personally I feel Ahmad Jamal gets overlooked

**Namelyguitar** · 01-08-2019, 06:47 PM

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

OP definitely played with Bird and a bunch of guys in his early days at JATP. That's the same time he recorded with Billie. I didn't know he played with Trane, or the other way around. When was that? I can't play the video presently.

Later George Wein, same guy who did JATP concerts and Newport, loved OP and had him record with a bunch of guys like Dizzy and Eldridge.

1960 European Tour, with a recording featured on German television.