good jazz piano


Looking for well recorded jazz cds with lots of piano music content.
slick2

Showing 1 response by rayhall

I am glad to see Marian Mc Partland and Dick Hyman given their "props" in this thread.

Try:
Marian Mc Partland's "Reprise"- excellent sound, beautiful playing. Also
"Live at Yoshi's"

Also you can try a number of her Piano Jazz CD's, which are recordings of her NPR radio show. I particularly like the one with bassist Milt Hinton and the one with Dave Brubeck.

Dick Hyman on Reference Recordings:
"From the Age of Swing"
"Recital"
"Plays Duke Ellington"
"Plays Fats Waller"
"Swing is Here"

(I ordered the Dick Hyman recordings from best to worst, IMO. However, all or excellent and worth owning.)


Cyrus Chestnut:

"Blessed Quietness"

For piano playing, but not for singing:

Diana Krall, "Stepping Out"

This is an excellent recording, also. Very dynamic.

If this category can be extended to blues:

Jay Mc Shann's Hybrid SACD "What a Wonderful World". This is dynamic, excellent musicianship all around. Again, he is not a great singer.

Dave Brubeck has a double hybrid SACD of two live performances done, I believe, for his 80th birthday called "From the USA and the UK". There is some excellent jazz improvisation on here. I absolutely hate the alto sax work on these recordings, though. Paul Desmond, where are you when we need you?