Jazz Piano
Here's just a sampling of the music of eight giants of jazz piano, listed in birth chronological order .....
1 JELLY ROLL MORTON (1890-1941)
The first great composer of jazz music was Jelly Roll Morton, a New Orleans jazz pioneer known for his wonderful jazz piano pieces. Jelly Roll started on the piano when he was 10. At age 15 he was entertaining in Storyville's music parlours. And he played the jazz piano consistently for the next dozen years. Morton left New Orleans earlier than other jazz musicians, taking the music to new places. He finallly settled in Los Angeles in 1917 for six years. 1923 found Jelly Roll in Chicago. Here he made extensive recordings of his jazz piano music, which had by now much matured. Then in the period 1926-1927 he created some very fine recordings by his Red Hot Peppers band - Grandpa's Spells, Jell Roll Blues, Dr Jazz and others. Moving to New York in 1928, Morton sadly saw his fortunes falling. The Great Depression of the 1930s put paid to his recording career. In 1938 he was rediscovered by Alan Lomax of the Library of Congress, who recorded much of Jell Roll's reminiscences and jazz piano solos for posterity. Jell Roll Morton died in California in 1941.
Recordings on Jazz Piano 1 Jelly Roll Morton, vol 1 - 5 2 JAMES P JOHNSON (1894-1955)
One of the greatest jazz pianists, James Johnson, is celebrated as the "Father of Stride Piano". He was also an in-demand composer for Broadway shows and for many popular tunes on the jazz piano. Johnson was born in New Jersey in 1894. Blessed with a perfect pitch, he absorbed the rhythms of popular dance music that his parents often played when he was young. His first piano teacher was his mother. Moving on to classical training, he learned ragtime and popular music as well. By 1920 he was already a well-known "Negro" on the jazz piano. In 1913 James Johnson started working in New York clubs. His two-handed rhythmic solo piano style or "stride piano" was highly popular. Duke Wellington and "Fats" Waller learned from his recordings. Waller became Johnson's private student and, later, popularised stride piano world-wide. Johnson was in great demand as jazz piano master at "rent parties". He also wrote music for Broadway shows. In 1923 he composed the very famous piece "The Charleston". Five years later, in 1928, he produced the African-American themed "Yamakraw - A Negro Rhapsody" for Carnegie Hall. In the 1930s, Johnson was only semi-active, but he was again active in the 1940s. In all he produced 55 jazz piano rolls, 400 recorded sides, 250 popular tunes and 11 staged musicals. A major stroke ended his career in 1951. He died in 1955
Recordings & Compositions 1917 Carolina Shout
3 FATS WALLER (1904-1943)
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller was a popular pianist and organist. He played the jazz piano in the Harlem Stride style. He had other talents, too. Besides composing pop songs, Fats was an accomplished radio singer and a humourist. Born in New York in 1904, Waller played the organ for his preacher father as a boy. He also took piano lessons and, by the early 1920s, he was already jazzing with Harlem pianists. He made his first jazz piano recordings in 1922. Fats wrote tunes in collaboration with his lyricist, Alan Rasaf, and others. In the period 1928-29, he wrote music for three Broadway Shows. He also appeared on radio as a singer and as a jazz pianist.. Gifted and graceful, Waller rendered many charming melodies. 1938 saw Fats visiting Europe and recording the "London Suite". And in the 1940s, he engaged in extensive recoring and broadcasting. Moving to Hollywood in 1943, Fats Waller died of alchol-induced pneumonia later that year.
Recordings on Jazz Piano and Pipe Organ 1 Smashing Thirds
4 ART TATUM (1909-1956)
Art Tatum's fame as a jazz pianist is founded on a) his skill of playing at high speed on any kind of jazz piano technique, b) on his art of improvisation and c) on his varied interpretation of standard pieces. Possessing complete command over the instrument, Art was admired by every jazz pianist. Born with poor eyesight, Tatum learned music at school in Toledo. In the mid-1920s he played piano professionally in night-clubs and on the radio. His main influence was Fats Waller. In 1932 he moved to New York where, the following year, he cut his first solo recording. His rendition of "Tiger Rag" was a sensation. Subsequently he worked in various states, and also visited England in 1938. Art founded a popular trio in 1943 and made some recordings. However, he spent most of his life as a soloist. Though he rarely composed music, his re-arranged pieces were like new compositions. In 1947 he briefly appeared in his only film. 1953 saw extensive solo recordings of Tatum by Norman Granz in an LP called "The Genius of Art Tatum". There were group recordings that included Lionel Hampton, Roy Eldridge, Benny Carter and other greats. His short life of 47 years was ended by kidney disease in 1956.
Recordings 1Tiger Rag
5 THELONIOUS MONK (1917-1982)
Thelonious Sphere Monk had an unusual name, but he was an influential pianist and a genius composer of piano jazz. His musical career was as remarkable as his strange and contradictory behaviour. Monk was born in North Carolina. When he was very young, his family moved to New York. Playing church piano as a young boy, he emerged as a professional pianist after high school. And in the early 1940s, he played the jazz piano at a Harlem club. In the period 1944-46, Monk's unique jazz piano prowess impressed Alfred Lion of a well-known label, who held several recording sessions with him. Evident then was Duke Ellington's influence. The 1950s found Thelonious collaborating profitably with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and others. Towards the decade's end, Monk became popular and toured with his quartet. He also held his celebrated jazz piano concert at New York's town hall in 1959. Monk met with a creative impasse in the 1960s. His composing and performing standards declined and his demeanour became bizzare. In the 1970s, he declined further and secluded himself in a friend's house in New Jersey, where he died in 1982. Monk's legacy was a book of 70 songs/compositions as well as a son, TS Monk, Jr., whose band "Monk on Monk" played his father's music.
Recordings on the Jazz Piano 1 'Round About Midnight 6 DAVE BRUBECK (born 1920)
Dave Brubeck is a household name in jazz piano. His Quartet was a success from the start and was long-living. And he has a whole family of musicians - wife Iola and four sons. Brubeck was born in California to a stockman father and a music-teacher mother. Expectedly, he received his classical training from his mother. He then studied music at the College of the Pacific (1938-1942). After the Pacific War in 1946, he joined Mills College under Darius Milhaud, who encouraged his students to play jazz. Dave went on to lead an octet and then a trio around the jazz piano. These ended when he had a swimming accident. Reactivated in 1951, he founded the Dave Brubeck Quartet in collaboration wiith Paul Desmond. A success from the beginning, this band became highly popular. Both Dave and Desmond had sounds and styles that were original. In 1954 the magazine "Time" featured Brubeck on its cover. And by 1957, this Quartet was the most popular jazz small group in all America. In the 1960s, Desmond wrote the familiar "Take Five". As well, Dave and Iola, his wife and lyricist, produced an anti-racism show at the Monterey Jazz Festival. And the Quartet was constantly on tour until it was disbanded in 1967. Dave then formed another quartet. During the 1970s, Brubeck joined his sons in a family musical group, Two Generations of Brubeck: Darius (keyboards), Chris (bass and trombone), Danny (drums) and Mathew. In the 1980s, the Quartet went touring again. And Dave was prolific in composing hundreds of jazz piano pieces. Despite some health problems, Brubeck has continued with a busy schedule in the 2000s.
Recording & Compositions * Take Five 7 OSCAR PETERSON (1925- 2007)
Oscar Emmanual Peterson was the Canadian whose musical career spanned 60 years as the top jazz pianist in the world. He was awarded his country's top honour - the Order of Canada. And he received seven Grammy Awards. Additionally, in 1997 he was bestowed the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Peterson was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1925. He began piano playing at age six. His father, a railway porter and a self-taught musician, taught his five children their early music. Oscar, the 4th child, then studied classical piano during his high school years and won a talent show when he was 14. He played the jazz piano regularly at the Canadian Broadcasting System. Giving in to the lure of the jazz piano, Peterson dropped out of high school to pursue music full-time. He displayed a brilliant piano technique. His early influences included Art Tatum, Nat King Cole, Teddy Wilson and James P Johnson. In 1949, he was discovered by Norman Granz and presented in concert at Jazz at the Philharmonic. Granz later became his manager. Oscar performed and made a great number of records - solos, duets and trios. He played with the biggest jazz names of the tiime - Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. And he dueted with the top trumpeters - Roy Eldridge, Clark Terry, Harry Edison and Jon Faddis. Peterson also recorded on electric piano and organ. His was a household name. Peterson was invited to perform on the jazz piano for heads of state, including Queen Elizabeth II and Presdent Nixon. He composed "A Royal Wedding Suite" fpr Prince Charles and Princess Diana. And he was named "Maharajah of the Keyboard" by Duke Wellington, and credited to have "redefined swing for modern jazz pianists" by Herbie Hancock. Oscar was weakened by a stroke in 1993. But he returned to performance two years later. He died of kidney failure in 2007 in Toronto at the ripe age of 82.
Recordings & Compositions on Jazz Piano 1 Porgy And Besss (1959) 8 HERBIE J. HANCOCK (born 1940)
Herbie Hancock is a jazz pianist and composer with a prolific career spanning several incarnations over the last three decades. Beginning with the acoustic jazz piano, he combines different genres through the years. Hancock has 28 albums on music charts, and he garnered 12 Grammy Awards from 1983 to 2008. Born in Chicago in 1940, Herbie was a child genius who played classical piano at age 7. His interest in jazz piano began in high school and, by 1960, whilst at Grinnel College, he had already played with such jazz greats as Coleman Hawkins and Donald Byrd. Hancock finally left for New York with Byrd's quintet. Whilst in Bird's band, Hancock cut his first album, "Takin' Off", in 1962. One song in this album, "Watermelon Man", gained high rankings in music charts. In 1963, he was invited by Miles Davis to join his quintet. Later, Hancock moved on to the Rhodes electric piano and went solo. He then created several jazz piano hits - "Speak Like A Child", "Cantaloupe Island" and others. By 1969 Hancock was fully into musical experimentation. His sextet played African electric and rock music. He also began playing other musical instruments. He even took an African stage name. And there were still further "musical incarnations" that he wanted to explore. In 1973 Hancock disbanded his jazz piano sextet and set up a funk-rock group called "The Headhunters" that created the hit song "Chameleon". Then he went on a reunion tour with Miles Davis in 1976. Herbie re-engaged with the acoustic piano on shows with Chick Corea. By the 1980s, he reached the MTV audience with hip-hop song "Rockit". He also went touring with the Marsalis brothers. And in 1988 he produced a tech-pop record named "Perfect Machine". Hancock found fame in Hollywood, too - producing the soundtrack for the film "Blow Up"; acting in the film "Round Midnight" in 1996; and winning an Oscar for the film score he had written. Finally he rounded up his crossover into the mainstream by hosting a show on public television. By 2007 Hancock had returtned to his earlier jazz piano stylings with his album "River: The Joni Lettters", which won the Grammy for Album of the Year. And Herbie Hancock continues to succeed in his musical endeavours.
Compositions & Songs on Jazz Piano
1 Maiden Voyage Famous Albums on Jazz Piano 1 Takin' Off -1961
Film Scores 1 Blow Up - 1966
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER ENJOYMENT Learn to play jazz piano in the quiet of your living-room. Simply use a cordless telephone and your computer to receive tutorial instructions.
Streaming jazz piano music is available at no cost. Here are specially selected jazz radio websites that compete to give you the best sounds of jazz styles including, of course, jazz piano music. Listen now - to your heart's content.
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