The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All-Time

[JSngry]

Or put another way - the names and faces of "the experts" (and who determines just who "the experts" are) change, but the bullshit stays the same.

[Rooster_Ties]

...and bullshit it is.

Reminds me of the adjunct professor who taught jazz piano at the college I went to (Knox College) back in the late 80's and early 90's. He thought he was all hip, and was really damn proud of all his chord substitutions (which were, I'll admit, pretty cool). But I remember playing some relatively "inside" Sun Ra for him (something off of "Purple Night" or "Blue Delight" probably) - and him recoiling in horror at how the piano player kept fucking up the form - and didn't seem to have any idea what he was doing hardly at all.

Even at the naive age of 20 or so, I remember thinking "WTF??" .

Edited January 24, 2006 by Rooster_Ties

[marcello]

This last Saturday night, after listening to Geoffrey Keezer's Trio at the Kitano, Harold Mabern got up to the mike and said ( to Geoffrey's slight embarassment ):

"I've only heard three geniuses in my life; Charlie Parker, Phineas Newborn and Geoffrey Keezer."

Then they played four handed piano, on a song of Harold's.

It was that kind of night.

[neveronfriday]

One of the few mistakes Ray Brown made in his later days was to let Keezer into his trio.

[Guest]

Oscar as #1?!? i can totally see that, if youre the run of the mill NPR jazz lover- but in reality, Art Tatum is #1, and #2, and #3..........7,000. Then Lennie Tristano is 7,001.

[mikeweil]

One of the few mistakes Ray Brown made in his later days was to let Keezer into his trio.

You can't argue about taste, not Ray's or mine or yours - Ray had his reasons, and I think Keezer was the greatest he had during the last ten years of his life. I talked to Benny Golson a few months ago and he, too, said Keezer is a genius. They can't be all wrong.

[.:.impossible]

Where did Herbie Nichols rank on this list?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

For living jazz pianists, how come nobody's mentioned Horace Silver?

They should have included "funkiness" as a criterion. Then Horace, Duke, Les McCann could have made the list and Monk would have been higher.

MG

[brownie]

Anybody got the full list, and can post it here???

Yeess!! Pleeeeaaaazzze! So that we can get an education from the top jazz minds!

[AllenLowe]

so negative, boys - I hope Roger Williams is on the list - me and Sal were listening to him just the other day -

[AllenLowe]

by the way, just to get some perspective here - Hal Leonard rejected my book on 1950s jazz, even though the editor recommended it, because his boss said it was about "has beens and never was" - (note that it includes Mingus, Gil Melle, Paul Bley, Teddy Charles and many others) -

Edited January 24, 2006 by AllenLowe

[Jim Alfredson]

The reason Benny Green is even on the list (not to mention being #6) is quite simple: The "top jazz minds in the worlds of education, publishing and entertainment" work for his record label.

[lkaven]

Isn't it a vanity piece? Isn't its real purpose to elevate the reputations of the putative experts as experts?

Once again, popularity is slyly substituted for excellence (as often wealth is subsituted for importance). And popular misconceptions pass as "expert" judgments. This is another way that the best artists become relegated to the arts ghetto.

Luke

[Rooster_Ties]

Here's a good review of the book (source)

Gene's List

by Shaun Brady

Books

Already on the defensive with BRAC breathing down its neck, Willow Grove may not be the best place to go looking for a fight. But Beaver College piano prof Gene Rizzo drops into the local Barnes & Noble with that most divisive of tomes, the list book. Rizzo's slim volume, The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time (Hal Leonard, 222 pp., $19.95), is a fairly demure opening salvo, featuring brief bios on each entry and little in the way of explanation for the rankings. Yet the book offers plenty to spur debate, given that Rizzo's tastes fall well on the conservative side of even the Wynton Marsalis Official Jazz Standard. Thelonious Monk is placed way down at number 15 on a list that includes latter-day bop revivalists like Monty Alexander and Benny Green in its top ten. (Green's entry is largely spent marveling at his youth, despite the fact that, at 42, he's older than Coltrane was when he died. Don't look for relative toddler Jason Moran's name between these covers.) Sticking to the Ken Burns narrative, Rizzo's conception of jazz excludes most of the innovations of the past 50 years, ignoring free improv by relegating Cecil Taylor to the "Honorable Mention' appendix and not even granting Marilyn Crispell a spot on the "Top Ten Women' afterthought. Rizzo begrudgingly allows Keith Jarrett to sneak in at number 50, well below a host of semi-obscure post-Shearing easy listening types. As the author notes, "the quantification of talent is tricky business," but for those itching for battle I offer my own pet talking point: Where the hell is Andrew Hill?

[Rooster_Ties]

OK, a little searching on-line, and I discovered that Monty Alexander is ranked #5 on the list.

[couw]

from the table of contents:

1 Oscar Peterson 3

2 Bill Evans 7

3 Bud Powell 11

4 Art Tatum 15

5 Monty Alexander 19

6 Benny Green 23

7 André Previn 27

8 Tommy Flanagan 31

9 George Shearing 35

10 Red Garland 39

11 McCoy Tyner 43

12 Gene Harris 47

13 Kenny Drew 51

14 Hampton Hawes 55

15 Thelonious Monk 59

16 Ahmad Jamal 63

17 Billy Taylor 67

18 Horace Silver 71

19 Hank Jones 75

20 Chick Corea 79

21 Tete Montoliu 83

22 Phineas Newborn, Jr. 87

23 Teddy Wilson 91

24 Nat "King" Cole 95

25 Erroll Garner 99

3 26 Cedar Walton 103

27 Count Basie 107

28 Dave Brubeck 111

29 Cyrus Chestnut 115

30 Lennie Tristano 119

31 Fats Waller 123

32 Dick Hyman 127

33 Wynton Kelly 131

34 Dave McKenna 135

35 John Bunch 139

36 Kenny Barron 143

37 Bobby Timmons 147

38 Duke Ellington 151

39 Earl Hines 155

40 Jimmy Rowles 159

41 Ray Bryant 163

42 Herbie Hancock 167

43 Jelly Roll Morton 171

44 Al Haig 175

45 Derek Smith 179

46 Ralph Sharon 183

47 Mary Lou Williams 187

48 Willie "The Lion" Smith 191

49 Roland Hanna 195

50 Keith Jarrett 199

[couw]

the list can also be found here

[EKE BBB]

Funny to see Dick Hyman, but no James P. Johnson, Luckey Roberts or Joe Turner.

Stop! I can´t criticize a list that includes Tete Montoliu...

[Ken Dryden]

Allen: That was a pretty funny post about your top jazz minds, but didn't Leslie Gourse die in 2004 or so?

I'd love to compare my collection of jazz piano CDs and LPs to some of the bozos that took part in this survey. If anything, there was a bias against a lot of the older players. Since Nat king Cole helped inspire so many pianists, it is hard to imagine him listed so low. Ralph Sharon and John Bunch make the cut? Good musicians, but not top 50 material in my book. Much as I like Bud Powell, there is no way I'd rank him above Art Tatum (who should have been #1 in the first place).

A better book would have been to name one's own top fifty and defend it, rather than hide behind a huge survey and state "The people have spoken."

[AllenLowe]

well, she was still a great jazz mind -

I agree with you - and I think it's silly to rank them in order, whch makes it seem like a track event - and some of those names make NO sense, unless there has been money exchanged -

I'm surprised we don't see George Winston near the top -

[AllenLowe]

but, as I said, at least he included Al Haig, a central figure who is too often forgotten these days - unless he was referring to the former Nixonian -

Edited January 24, 2006 by AllenLowe

[EKE BBB]

Since we´re all criticizing this list, why don´t we start a thread listing OUR 50 FAVORITE pianists and then make a top-50 list?

"OUR" regardless we´re great jazz minds or not.

"FAVORITE" as opposed to "Greatest Ever" or "Most Influential".

It would take some time to each one of us to go into our archives and pick 50 piano players, but it would be fun (IMHO)

EDIT: to correct spelling

Edited January 24, 2006 by EKE BBB

[brownie]

Stop! I can´t criticize a list that includes Tete Montoliu...

Well I can critize a list that does not include Martial Solal...

[EKE BBB]

Stop! I can´t criticize a list that includes Tete Montoliu...

Well I can critize a list that does not include Martial Solal...

OK, let´s not start a "Best European Jazz Pianist Ever" thread.

[couw]

OK, let´s not start a "Best European Jazz Pianist Ever" thread.

a tough decision between Andrzej Kurylewicz, Andrzej Trzaszkowski, Krzystof Komeda, Iancsi Körössy,...