Who is your favorite Jazz pianist?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

I didn't include Sun Ra, Count Basie and Duke Ellington because they were also very prominent as band leaders (poll will come)

[PragMantisT]

1. Bud Powell or Sun Ra n/t

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

2. See edit to original post --Bud Powell was great too bad he melted down!

[PragMantisT]

22. Yeah, some of his stuff is really magical.

I wonder if a sane person can do that.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

23. After he lost it Miles Davis told of seeing him and his wife in Paris

they were good friends. Well Powell went to the piano to play for everybody but in the middle he just fell apart. Everybody applauded but felt really bad for him. Miles made an excuse that he was drunk but everybody knew something was wrong. Too too sad. He was a genius.

[felonious thunk]

3. Is there even a choice on this one?

Gotta be the Monk.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

5. I knew you'd appear Felonious

And you know I agree

:toast:

[0007]

4. Ahmad Jamal

Ramsey Lewis

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

6. Ahmad Jamal was a HUGE influence on Miles Davis

thus a very strong undercurrent in the scene! Great choice!

[0007]

9. Dave Brubeck was also one of my favorites.

[Wickerman]

7. Bill Evans for this guy

I love his stuff. I played trumpet, but the first time I heard Kind of Blue what I heard was the piano on the tracks Evans played on. Covnersations with Myself, tremendous lp.

[bif]

18. I totally agree

Very tasty player. A god. Have you ever heard the show he did with Marianne McPartland? It's incredible. He explains the several ways he could have done the solo on Waltz for Debbie. It's out on cd.

[Wickerman]

27. Yes!! - I was going to write about that

but it was too intense for me to describe. I borrowed that from the library and made MP3's of it. Don't feel too guilty as I don't think Bill left much family for an estate to benefit from my $ - plus, I have most of his stuff on genuine CD.

[regularguy]

8. Gotta go with Herbie.....

Yeah, he did some junk, but he's done so much great stuff, particularly with Miles in the 60s (greatest band ever IMO). Also his solo and sideman stuff on BlueNote during those same years. That's not even mentioning HeadHunters which maybe is or isn't Jazz.

Anyway I love these polls, CST; I never really run into people in real life who give two you-know-whats about Jazz.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

13. Though, I'm obviously biased towards Davis' band with Trane I have been

listening to the Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter stuff. Miles Smiles is in heavy rotation these days!

[chenGOD]

10. Oscar Peterson.

He's my man.
Followed very very very closely by Thelonius.

yes Thelonius was a mad harmonic genius, and was a true gift to the planet.
For me though just the pure soul you can hear come through in Oscar's playing is amazing. And you gotta give the man a little bit of cred for his chops.

But go listen to Blues Etude from "the Trio" disc (with Joe Pass, Niels Henning Örsted Pedersen and Oscar). Tell me that's not the most amazing piano you've ever heard, and it's live too. Just makes you wanna break down and cry in disbelief and amazement.

[ohiosmith]

11. The Man: Oscar Peterson

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

12. The man the myth the legend

I love his trio, have a bunch of his albums but there's one I love in particular forget the name of the album. Its at home and Im at work

But great choice!

[bif]

24. The man, the myth, the melon.

For no reason at all. I just like that line. Oscar is incredible. And he still sounds good, even after the stroke.

[MuseRider]

14. Voted Tyner

but also love Monk. I actually like all of them in one way or another. I wanted to say Brubeck since I got to play with him once (boy was that fun) but I really love the way Tyner voices his chords so I went with him.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

17. What's your favorite Tyner perio......WAIT, YOU SAID YOU PLAYED WITH

BRUBECK? When?

[MuseRider]

26. I think it was

about 5 years ago maybe. He and his group did a concert with our orchestra, I play in the orchestra. It was an absolute blast, very nice guys and so talented. Mr. Brubeck was so cool. I shook his hand after the concert and was so surprised at how cool and soft they were. It was an amazing experience.

I can't tell you much about the period of Tyner I like best. I am a classical musician who is married to a guy who plays some jazz and has two sons who are studying jazz so I come by my knowledge in fits and starts. I just remember loving the way he voiced his chords (Coltrane? was that maybe where I noticed it or was it from before? Miles?)

I am still learning. I know quite a few well known jazz musicians and am getting to know a few more through my sons. A couple of weeks ago my DU experience was interrupted by Bobby Watson who was calling about my son who plays bass. Someday perhaps I can talk about jazz with more knowledge. Funny, I just answered the door and there was a package for my son from Mike Metheny. I had better get started learning.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

29. McCoy was a younger friend of Trane's from Philly.I don't think Miles ever

worked with him. Miles didn't like his style as he progressed in Trane's band. I, however, love that quartet like I love my own Mother.So, in short - it was Trane that you probably heard him with - if not his own band.

[MuseRider]

32. Thanks

every little bit I can learn is helpful. I listened to Dave Holland yesterday with my son (his latest release) and the sax player was lots of fun to listen to but his name was new to me so I do not remember it yet. Great fun though, his duets with the trombone were nothing short of amazing. Thanks for the info on Tyner.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

33. Any time!

:hi:

[Whitacre D_WI]

15. Voted for Monk...

...with a nod to McCoy Tyner, who I saw play Gilly's in Dayton circa '94.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

16. No way - how was he?

[gottaB]

19. I heard McCoy Tyner several years ago

he was powerful

and yeah, the voicings were phenomenal

[Whitacre D_WI]

21. Very cool.

If I recall correctly (I was 19, not yet really into jazz, and a bit drunk), he was playing in a trio that sounded just like the Classic Quartet sans Trane. Hell, the bassist coulda been Jimmy Garrison, for all I knew (though the drummer wasn't quite at Elvin's level).

I wasn't familiar with much of what they played back then; but Tyner did drift into a few familiar passages I knew from Trane records -- in the middle of one piece he segued right into the piano solo from "Equinox" for a few measures.

Neato.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

25. Sounds great - I love the version of "round Midnight on Inceptions

I think it's my favorite non Monk version of that song. That's some phrasing? Its hard to outdo Monk on a song he wrote.

[gottaB]

20. Voted Monk, but...

Randy Weston and Abdullah Ibrahim and Geri Allen I like a lot

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

28. Anybody here here of Aki Takase?

She is an exceptional player. She does a version of Coltrane's Giant Steps solo that comes together like drops of water into a stream into the Traney wildness of a river. I love it.

[IronLionZion]

30. Hancock 1, Monk 2

they are both wicked awesome

[buddhamama]

31. have to go with Monk

they're all good, no doubt about that
but there's a quality to Monk's music and playing
it is his inner voice speaking thru the piano,
it's hard to match.

[CO Liberal]

34. You Forgot George Shearing and Kat King Cole

Two of my favorites.

[Zorra]

35. Monk and Chick Corea.

Watched Chick practice for an hour in a club in Seattle while the club was closed and he didn't know I was there.

Amazing.