Article: Music and Sonic Favorites: Jazz Piano

[JoeWhip]

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[JoeWhip]

I have the Strafford, great album. Only have it on vinyl. Need to remedy that! Ha! I easily could have extended this list to 20 easily but didn’t want to drive Chris crazy. I was trying to include my favs that were well known to lesser known new guys who really deserve your consideration like the last three. Mega talents all.

[JoeWhip]

Now you have gone and done it Joelha! 🤪

[JoeWhip]

Audio bomber, it is OK to like jazz with a harder edge. I have been fortunate enough to have met Messrs Tyner and Hancock, two great guys and phenomenal musicians who belong on any lists of greats. They are just a bit further down my list of favs than yours. I will address them on the next one. After male jazz vocalists. Now that one should be interesting!

[JoeWhip]

Yep, love Mel. Saw him a few times live. Johnny Hartman is on the list. The Coltrane Hartman album is the best jazz vocal album ever.

[JoeWhip]

As an aside, I did not include George Shearing on this list as I was going to touch on him with the great set of recordings he did with Mel Torme on Concord. Just in case anyone was wondering. 

[JoeWhip]

I thought hard about a Keith Jarrett. I have tons of his recordings but I thought the piece was getting too long and I wanted to mention some young guys that I am sure most have never heard of. Keith will be on the next but I must say, as beautiful as his playing is and that if his accompanists, his vocalizing, shall I say, can be a bit distracting.

[JoeWhip]

Yes, Cyrus is awesome and a great dude to chat with at the bar, and I don’t even drink!

[JoeWhip]

Indeed. Check out Hank Jones ‘Round Midnight Solo Piano. I have a rip of the DSD layer from the SACD. Will listen to it again tonight. Beautiful stuff.

[JoeWhip]

I have commented on this before but these are favorites of mine. I have quite a few Keith Jarrett Recordings and enjoy them even with those sounds he makes. Just not enough to be in my top 10. Frankly, at times he gets out there for me. I really love the two Charlie Haden albums he recorded In his home studio up near Easton, PA. A little dry acoustically but just wonderful melodic music. He is in the second 10 for sure as is Herbie, who I had the pleasure of meeting and who is just a wonderful guy. Not the biggest fan of Chick Corea though. Diana Krall is a fantastic piano player . Definitely in the next 10 even at the risk of being drummed out of the audiophile community. There is also some Japanese player I need to include or I really won’t be welcome around these parts, pardner.

[JoeWhip]

Yep.

[JoeWhip]

Nailed it Audiobomber. I acknowledge that Art Tatum was a giant and a hero of OP. I just think OP took the art form to another level. Frankly, I should have also included Nat Cole in the piece but wanted to address his piano prowess in a piece about my favorite male jazz singers. I really need to get to work. Having too much fun listening to get analytical. 

[JoeWhip]

Love Ahmad Jamal. He will be on the next one, if I ever get around to it. The article was about my favorites. I also wanted to highlight some younger extremely talented doods who really deserve a more wider audience. 

[JoeWhip]

Joey Alexander is amazing. However, even though he is so young, he is actually a star in the jazz world already. I was trying to highlight guys more under the radar. I look forward to seeing Joey perform in person one day, whenever that will be possible.