So I'm quite new to jazz, what great jazz pianists should I be listening to?

Hi Chelly85

It's a long list!

The spectrum of Jazz Piano is huge. There are dozens, no hundreds, of great Pianists worth listening to.
So I'll keep it simple and list the Pianists that I love, quite a few of which influenced my own playing (not that I'm in the same league as any of these artists):

Oscar Peterson
Keith Jarrett
Count Basie
Thelonious Monk
Duke Ellington
Michel Petrucciani
Chick Corea
Errol Garner
Bud Powell
McCoy Tyner
Bill Evans
Herbie Hancock

Sadly most of these Pianists are no longer with us. I'm not up to speed with the younger generation. But I'm in no doubt there are plenty of great young players out there that are worth listening to. Most will have been influenced by one or more of the above list though.

I've only scratched the surface with that list, so I'm sure other people will make plenty of suggestions as well.

Cheers

Thank you Simon. That's a great list to get me started. I know some of these but there are plenty of new names there for me too, I will be busy with this list for a while.

Thanks 🙂

That's a good list you've been given. I'd also recommend you listen to those piano players in trios or other small combos, rather than solo piano. You'll get a better feel for the rhythm of jazz and how instruments work with each other. Solo piano can be wonderful, but small combos are the heart and soul of jazz.

Two players that I am listening to a lot right now (with links to recent albums):

Christian Sands
https://amzn.to/2HBCNjd

David Hazeltine
https://amzn.to/2H69Zhq

Whoever comes to town. Recordings are no substitute for live performance, especially in jazz.

Fred Hersch, Beegie Adair, Dave Brubeck, George Shearing, Diana Krall, Chuck Brown, Stan Getz, Ramsey Lewis, Hank Jones. The more I name the more I think of. We have on PW: Dave Frank, Rob Mullins, others I am sure.

No list is complete without......ART TATUM.

For SURE!!

Having quickly reviewed my CD collection:

Earl Hines
Lennie Tristano
Monty Alexander
Jelly Roll Morton
Fats Waller
Dick Hyman
Gene Harris
Wynton Kelly
Teddy Wilson
Billy Taylor
Mary Lou Williams
Marian McPartland
Martial Solal
Abdullah Ibrahim
Stan Tracy
John Taylor
John Lewis
James P Johnson
Nat King Cole


Enjoy!


Cheers

If you want to listen to dead music by dead pianists not mentioned above, I would recommend Dorothy Donegan and Bobby Enriquez. I heard them live, and they really impressed me.

TomLC, I am curious about Chuck Brown. I tuned for a couple of concerts with Charles Brown, the blues pianist, who was a very nice man, (Dorothy Donegan literally played circles around him at a joint concert), but the only reference I can find to Chuck Brown was a guitarist, the Godfather of Go-Go.