European Pianists

[king ubu]

Sampled a bunch of these over the last day or so and that Malcolm Braff disc is a killer. My favorite so far, by far. A lot has to do with Alex Blake, but I'd love to hear more of his stuff.

I have seen his Braff-Oester-Rohrer trio live and it's terrific! They have a disc out, too, I should think (don't have any of Braff's discs so far). Rohrer is one of the most inventive and joyful drummers I was able to catch live so far!

[Peter Friedman]

There are many fine jazz piano players not yet mentioned. Here are some that quickly come to mind.

Peter Beets , Rein de Graaf and Cees Slinger from The Netherlands

John Pearce, Victor Feldman, Keith Ingham, Brian Dee, John Horler, Terry Shannon and Mick Pyne from the British Isles

Lars Sjosten, Nils Lindberg and Ake Johansson from Sweden

Mark Eisenman, Don Thompson, David Restivo, Wray Downes and Bernie Senensky from Canada

[Sundog]

Anyone have the Marcin Wasilewski Trio CD? I like his work with Tomasz Stanko very much, but have yet to hear this album.

It's a bit weird... I used to love Stanko, saw him three times with this trio, but last time it was pretty mediocre... the trio was great but sounded awful (cheapo drumset, not the club that is to blame, rather the Miskiewicz' bad-sounding cymbals, I think)... anyway, the trio on its own then I don't find as interesting as when they're backing Stanko... too restrained, too pop-like (EST, yuck... how boring!). Anyway, the disc isn't bad but it's ECM and hence it's a far cry from what they do in a live situation...

Find an earlier discussion >> here <<

Thanks. I appreciate the feedback and the link. Suspected as much with respect to the pop orientation of the material. I'll probably pick it up sooner or later.

[Larry Kart]

Has anyone mentioned Michiel Braam?

http://www.michielbraam.com/

or Guus Janssen?

http://www.guusjanssen.com/home.html

Some wild stuff from both of them.

[ghost of miles]

Another good one is Stefano Bollani. He played with Enrico Rava, both in quintet as well as duo settings. I don't know any official releases of his, but he's great!

Bollani has a recent release out on ECM.

I'd like to get that HUM 3-CD set mentioned earlier... been listening to a lot of Solal lately. (1950s Vogue, the Hat record w/Konitz, the trio date with Peacock & Motian, and the 2003 Blue Note VANGUARD.)

[B. Goren.]

Has anybody mentioned Gordon Beck???

[thomastreichler]

Bollani has a recent release out on ECM.

I'd like to get that HUM 3-CD set mentioned earlier... been listening to a lot of Solal lately. (1950s Vogue, the Hat record w/Konitz, the trio date with Peacock & Motian, and the 2003 Blue Note VANGUARD.)

The Bollani on ECM is called Solo Piano, recommended.

As for the 3-CD set on Sketch "H.U.M." here is a link to amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Humair-Urtreger-Mich...9880&sr=8-2

[thomastreichler]

There are many fine jazz piano players not yet mentioned. Here are some that quickly come to mind.

Peter Beets , Rein de Graaf and Cees Slinger from The Netherlands

John Pearce, Victor Feldman, Keith Ingham, Brian Dee, John Horler, Terry Shannon and Mick Pyne from the British Isles

Lars Sjosten, Nils Lindberg and Ake Johansson from Sweden

Mark Eisenman, Don Thompson, David Restivo, Wray Downes and Bernie Senensky from Canada

Thanks very much for the recommendations, some of the names I am familiar with, though Canada, to my knowledge, is not part of Europe ...

[thomastreichler]

Just now I am listening to Stefano Bollani/Jesper Bodilsen/Morten Lund - Mi Ritorni In Mente on the Stunt label. Beautiful recording. All three participants show musicianship at the highest level. They perform some standards, two italian songs, one swedish folk song and one original by Bollani. Modern piano trio jazz as good as it gets. By the way, Jesper Bodilsen is carrying on the tradition of great Danish bassists, think of Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Jesper Lundgaard, Hugo Rasmussen, Mads Vinding.

[relyles]

Has anyone mentioned Michiel Braam?

http://www.michielbraam.com/

or Guus Janssen?

http://www.guusjanssen.com/home.html

Some wild stuff from both of them.

I have somewhat of an interest in the Dutch jazz scene and have heard some stuff from both. Bram with Trio BraamDeJoodeVatcher and Janssen with the Sound Lee! quartet. I enjoyed both, but the Tristano/Konitz influenced group is really interesting playing.

[relyles]

The late Per Henrik Wallin.

Your recommendations have proven reliable for me in the past and when I discovered that I was able to legally download the entire Atavistic disc from Rhapsody for only $.89 (it is all one track), I could not pass. Gave it an initial listen yesterday and it was a very favorable first impression. I ordered the Stund CD 9.9.99 and hope to receive it within the next couple of days. I may also order the hatOLOGY release.

Anything in particular you would recommend?

Edited July 20, 2007 by relyles

[Larry Kart]

The late Per Henrik Wallin.

Your recommendations have proven reliable for me in the past and when I discovered that I was able to legally download the entire Atavistic disc from Rhapsody for only $.89 (it is all one track), I could not pass. Gave it an initial listen yesterday and it was a very favorable first impression. I ordered the Stund CD 9.9.99 and hope to receive it within the next couple of days. I may also order the hatOLOGY release.

Anything in particular you would recommend?

I have Farewell To Sweden (Hatology), Burning in Stockholm (Atavistic), and Where Is Spring? (Dragon). If I had to pick one, it would be the last of those, though you can't go wrong with any.

[Aggie87]

I don't think Misha Mengelberg's been mentioned, but I like the little I've heard from him.

[clifford_thornton]

Apparently there's a Wallin LP on Revelation (yes, that one)... never seen it, though. Strange.

Lots of great recommendations here, and I'm going to throw Siegfried Kessler into the ring also. Shame he left us recently, but there's a strong legacy there - as exemplified by sessions for Impro, Futura and other labels.

[gnhrtg]

Good recommendations here. I'll just say that I don't like Pilc. I have his recent solo cd (called Follow Me, I think) to trade in case you are interested.

I don't like "Follow Me" that much, either... but I like him very much in the classical piano trio setting! Did you check him out in that format?

I did hear both of the Sweet Basil discs a couple of years ago but they did not do much for me either. Haven't heard the more recent trio/ensemble efforts.

[sidewinder]

No mention of John Taylor yet?

[relyles]

If you want to go into territorry completely unknown to the folks here, you might check out also a few fine young Swiss pianists:

Malcolm Braff - one of my big favourites! http://www.malcolmbraff.com/

I just listened to a Braff-Oester-Rohrer broadcast from Basel that ubu seeded on dimeadozen a while ago. Even on a casual listen in the office this was a very enjoyable performance. I am going to have to chcek out some more of this group.

Edited July 23, 2007 by relyles

[Bol]

My favorites are:

Guus Janssen

Achim Kaufman

Both are also very nice guys who are professorial rather than showmanish. But their piano playing and composing are as radical as they come.

[Jim R]

I was going to mention Michel Graillier, whom I remember from some recordings with Chet Baker. I see from a french Wikipedia page that he passed away in 2003. Anyway, perhaps brownie or someone else who is more familiar than I am with this player can provide some info and suggestions. He was still in his 50's when he passed (don't know the cause)... too bad, as I always liked his playing.

[Guest donald petersen]

benoit widemann

patrick gauthier

patrick moraz

jean-philippe goude

as someone mentioned, wolfagang dauner was the best. jasper von hof is a poor man's version of him.

[Van Basten II]

I was going to mention Michel Graillier, whom I remember from some recordings with Chet Baker. I see from a french Wikipedia page that he passed away in 2003. Anyway, perhaps brownie or someone else who is more familiar than I am with this player can provide some info and suggestions. He was still in his 50's when he passed (don't know the cause)... too bad, as I always liked his playing.

Good call.

[brownie]

I was going to mention Michel Graillier, whom I remember from some recordings with Chet Baker. I see from a french Wikipedia page that he passed away in 2003. Anyway, perhaps brownie or someone else who is more familiar than I am with this player can provide some info and suggestions. He was still in his 50's when he passed (don't know the cause)... too bad, as I always liked his playing.

Good call.

Indeed.

Two Graillier siedeman appearances I would recomment are the Chet Baker session 'Candy' reissued a couple of years ago on Sonet and Barney Wilen's 'French Ballads' (originally on Ida).

[king ubu]

"French Ballads" is very nice! (Thanks once again, brownie!)

The Anniversary or Heritage or whatever series of Universal France contains a Graillier/Jean-Marie (another good one!) disc, but I think that's a synth affair, haven't heard it, however:

[king ubu]

Michael Wintsch - releases on Leo Records

[king ubu]

Sophia Domancich

I've got her quintet disc, "Pentacle" (Sketch - OOP) and like it a lot!

The trio Domancich/Avenel/Goubert is fine, too (don't have their disc, though).