The 10 Jazz Pianists You Need To Listen To Today
Who are the best jazz pianists of all time?
There have been so many great jazz piano players throughout the years, it’s hard to know where to start.
The world of jazz is a scary place for a lot of people.
Where do I even start? Will I be able to understand or enjoy what the musicians are playing?
If these sound like questions you often ask yourself about jazz, you are not alone. But don’t worry because I’ve got you covered.
Here is the short-list of some of the greatest jazz piano players who ever lived. This is the place to start. I also included some recommended recordings to check out that aren’t too heavy (with maybe a couple of exceptions).
So take a deep breath and forget everything you ever heard about what you are “supposed to know” about jazz. Just hit the reset button, then hit the play button, sit back and take a listen.
My Top 10 Favorite Jazz Pianists Of All Time
1. Bill Evans
Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist and composer who mostly worked as the leader of a trio, although he is also knowns as a sideman to many greats including his performance on Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block chords, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines continues to influence jazz pianists today.
Years Active: 1950s-1980s
Best Albums: Explorations, Sunday At The Village Vanguard, Conversations With Myself
Recommended Listening: Alice In Wonderland, Theme From M*A*S*H*, Nardis
2. Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight," "Blue Monk," "Straight, No Chaser," "Ruby, My Dear," "In Walked Bud," and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second-most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington.
Years Active: 1940s-1973
Best Albums: Genius of Modern Music, Brilliant Corners, Misterioso
Recommended Listening: Well, You Needn’t, Round Midnight, In Walked Bud
3. Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, as well as a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy, and received numerous other awards and honors. He is considered one of history's great jazz pianists and played thousands of concerts worldwide in a career lasting more than 60 years.
Years Active: 1945-2007
Best Albums: On The Town, Night Train, We Get Requests
Recommended Listening: C Jam Blues, Have You Met Miss Jones, Sweet Georgia Brown
4. Bud Powell
Bud Powell was an American jazz pianist and composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell was a leading figure in the development of modern jazz. His virtuosity led many to call him the Charlie Parker of the piano. Powell was also a composer, and many jazz critics credit his works and his playing as having "greatly extended the range of jazz harmony".
Years Active: 1944-1965
Best Albums: The Amazing Bud Powell Vol. 1, The Amazing Bud Powell Vol. 2, Jazz Giant
Recommended Listening: Bouncin’ With Bud, A Night In Tunisia, Polka Dots and Moonbeams
5. Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, composer, and occasional actor. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. In the 1970s, Hancock experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro styles, utilizing a wide array of synthesizers and electronics. It was during this period that he released perhaps his best-known and most influential album, Head Hunters.
Years Active: 1961-present
Best Albums: Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage, Head Hunters
Recommended Listening: Dolphin Dance, Chameleon, Cantaloupe Island
6. McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterward. He was an NEA Jazz Master and a five-time Grammy award winner. Unlike many of the jazz keyboardists of his generation, Tyner very rarely incorporated electric keyboards or synthesizers into his work. Tyner was widely imitated, and is one of the most recognizable and influential pianists in jazz history.
Years Active: 1960-2020
Best Albums: A Love Supreme (John Coltrane), Today and Tomorrow, The Real McCoy
Recommended Listening: Passion Dance, When Sunny Gets Blue, Search For Peace
7. Chick Corea
Chick Corea was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain," "500 Miles High," "La Fiesta," "Armando's Rhumba," and "Windows" are widely considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis's band in the late 1960s, he participated in the birth of jazz fusion. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever. Along with McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, and Keith Jarrett, Corea is considered one of the foremost jazz pianists of the post-John Coltrane era.
Years Active: 1962-2021
Best Albums: Now He Sings Now He Sobs, Light As A Feather, Trilogy
Recommended Listening: Spain, 500 Miles High, Windows
8. Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett is an American jazz and classical music pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also been a group leader and a solo performer in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music. His improvisations draw from the traditions of jazz and other genres, especially Western classical music, gospel, blues, and ethnic folk music.
Years Active: 1966-2018
Best Albums: The Koln Concert, At The Deer Head Inn, At The Blue Note
Recommended Listening: Solar, You and the Night and the Music, On Green Dolphin Street
9. Errol Garner
Errol Garner was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad "Misty", has become a jazz standard. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His live album, Concert by the Sea, first released in 1955, sold over a million copies by 1958. Even though he never learned how to read music, he had an exceptional ear and impressive musical memory. He made an amazing career for himself in music and went on to inspire countless jazz pianists who would come after him.
Years Active: 1944-1974
Best Albums: The Original Misty, Concert By The Sea, Body and Soul
Recommended Listening: Misty, The Way You Look Tonight, I'll Remember April
10. Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He studied music at The New School, and toured and recorded while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's Quartet with bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade in the mid-1990s, and has led his own trio since the early 1990s. His first long-term trio featured bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy; in 2005 Jeff Ballard replaced Rossy. These bands have released a dozen albums under the pianist's name. Brad has been an innovator in the movement to take contemporary pop pieces and give them the “jazz” touch while blurring the lines between what is jazz and what is just good music.
Years Active: 1980’s-present
Best Albums: The Art Of The Trio Vol. 1, Day Is Done, Ode
Recommended Listening: Knives Out, 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, Blackbird
Do You Want More?
This is in no way an exhaustive list. To pick out the 10 greatest jazz pianists of all time is opening yourself up to a lot of debate and criticism. I’m sure there will be lots of people who tell me I “forgot” someone. And that’s great. Please leave me a comment and let me know who you would include in your top 10!
But to make a full list, I would need to list at least 50 or 100 names here. That’s not the point of this list.
The point of this list is to help you get started. To help you know where to begin if you are just diving into the world of jazz. These are 10 of my favorites that won’t let you down. When you get through listening to everything these 10 amazing jazz greats have recorded, then give me a shout. I’ll give you the next 10 jazz pianists to dive into next!
