Cover from album by Bud Powell.

Jazz Piano has been an integral part of the jazz idiom since its inception, in both solo and ensemble settings. The instrument is also a vital tool in the understanding of jazz theory and arranging, because of its combined melodic and harmonic nature. There are as many styles of jazz piano as there are of jazz itself. Image File history File links Amazing_Bud_Powell. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Jazz piano may refer to: Jazz piano, a piano-oriented subgenre of jazz music Piano Jazz, a radio show focused on the aforementioned genre Category: ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ...

Historically influential proponents of jazz piano include Earl Hines, James P. Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, Willie "The Lion" Smith , Art Tatum, Thomas "Fats" Waller, Mary Lou Williams and Teddy Wilson. Players following on from these include Joe Albany, Red Garland, Ahmad Jamal, Wynton Kelly, Thelonious Monk, Phineas Newborn, Jr., Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, Don Pullen, Horace Silver, Lennie Tristano and McCoy Tyner. Bill Evans was at the vanguard of a new generation of players emerging in the 1960s which included Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, John Taylor, Stan Tracey and McCoy Tyner. Today, luminaries include Django Bates, Bill Charlap, Michel Herr, Geoffrey Keezer, Dan Knight, Brad Mehldau, Mulgrew Miller, Carli Muñoz, Danilo Perez, Marc van Roon, Esbjörn Svensson, Jacky Terrasson and Jessica Williams. Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl Fatha Hines, (28 December 1903[1] Duquesne, Pennsylvania – 22 April 1983 in Oakland, California) was one of the most important pianists in the history of jazz. ... James Price Johnson (February 1, 1894 - November 17, 1955) was a pianist and composer. ... Morton in the 1920s Ferdinand Jelly Roll Morton September 20, 1890 - July 10, 1941) was an American virtuoso pianist, bandleader and composer who some call the first true composer of jazz music. ... Willie The Lion Smith (25 November 1897 - 18 April 1973) was a jazz pianist, one of the masters of the stride style. ... Arthur Tatum Jr. ... Fats Waller (born Thomas Wright Waller on May 21, 1904, died December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer and comedic entertainer. ... Mary Lou Williams (May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. ... Theodore Shaw Teddy Wilson (born November 24, 1912 in Austin, Texas-died July 31, 1986 in New Britain, Connecticut) was a United States jazz pianist. ... Joseph Albani (b. ... William Red Garland (1923–1984) was an American jazz pianist whose complex block-chord style influenced many forthcoming pianists in the jazz idiom. ... Ahmad Jamal in 1994 Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones on July 2, 1930)[1] is a highly-regarded American jazz pianist. ... Wynton Kelly (1931–1971) was an American jazz pianist, born in Jamaica. ... Thelonious Sphere Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was a jazz pianist and composer. ... Phineas Newborn, Jr. ... Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, CC, CQ, O.Ont. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Don Pullen (December 25, 1941 - April 22, 1995) was an American jazz pianist and organist. ... Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver, born on September 2, 1928 in Norwalk, Connecticut) is a famous jazz pianist and composer born to a Cape Verdean father (of mixed Portuguese-black descent) and a mother of Irish and African descent. ... Leonard Joseph Tristano (19 March 1919 - 18 November 1978) was a jazz pianist and composer. ... Alfred McCoy Tyner (born December 11, 1938) is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet. ... William John Evans (better known as Bill Evans) (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and one of the most famous of the 20th century; he remains one of the major influences on post-1950s jazz piano. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969. ... David Warren Brubeck (born December 6, 1920 in Concord, California[1]), better known as Dave Brubeck, is a U.S. jazz pianist. ... Armando Anthony Chick Corea (born June 12, 1941) is a multiple Grammy Award winning American jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer. ... Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an Academy Award and multiple Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist and composer from Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Hancock is one of jazz musics most important and influential pianists and composers. ... For other persons named Keith Jarrett, see Keith Jarrett (disambiguation). ... John Taylor (born 25th September 1942) is a British jazz pianist. ... Stanley William Tracey (born in Tooting, London on December 30, 1926) is a UK jazz pianist and composer, most influenced by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. ... Alfred McCoy Tyner (born December 11, 1938) is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet. ... Django Bates (born October 2, 1960 in Beckenham, Kent, United Kingdom) is a composer, virtuoso multi-instrumentalist and band leader. ... William Morrison Charlap is a jazz pianist born October 15, 1966 in New York City. ... Michel Herr (born 16 February 1949, Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Brussels) is a Belgian pianist, composer and arranger. ... Geoffrey Graham Keezer (born November 20, 1970 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin) is a jazz pianist and composer. ... Dan Knight. ... Brad Mehldau (born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist. ... Mulgrew Miller is an American jazz pianist born in 1955 in Greenwood, Mississippi. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Danilo Pérez Panamanian pianist and composer Danilo Pérez. ... Marc van Roon // [edit] Biography Jazz pianist Marc van Roon (born in The Hague, The Netherlands 2 November 1967) is an improvising musician who combines music performance with his work as a creative coach for groups in change and learning processes. ... Esbjörn Svensson Trio (or e. ... Jacques-Laurent Terrasson(November 27, 1966 in Berlin) is a jazz pianist better known as Jacky Terrasson. ... Jessica Williams is an American pianist and composer who has deep roots in the Jazz Tradition and has a style that draws on Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis. ...

Role in ensembles

The role of the piano in the context of ensemble accompaniment has gradually changed from a time-keeping role consisting of repetitive left-hand figures to a more flexible one where the pianist is free to choose to interact with the soloist using both short and sustained chordal and melodic fragments. This form of accompaniment is known as comping Comping (an abbreviation of accompany) is the art of harmonically, rhythmically, and melodically supporting a jazz soloist with improvised chords. ...

How jazz piano is played

The jazz pianist requires a unique set of skills. One must be able to read notes by sight, in a similar fashion to other styles, and must also be able to quickly interpret the content of chord symbols and lead sheets. Often, the pianist is doing this while recalling that information from memory. In an accompaniment setting, the pianist must balance this interpretation with choices appropriate to the musical context of the soloist and other accompanists.

The extended range of the piano as an instrument offers soloists an exhaustive number of choices. One could use the bass register to play an ostinato pattern, such as those found in boogie-woogie, or a melodic counterline emulating the walking of an upright bass. In a style known as Stride piano the left hand alternates positions rapidly playing notes in the bass register and chords in the tenor register. This is also done in more syncopated variants. The right hand will often play melodic lines, but might also play harmonic content, chordally or in octaves, sometimes in lockstep with the Left Hand using a technique called "Block Voicing." In music, an ostinato (derived from Italian: stubborn, compare English: obstinate) is a motif or phrase which is persistently repeated at the same pitch. ... Boogie woogie has two different meanings: a piano based music style, boogie woogie (music) a dance that imitates the rocknroll of the 50s, boogie woogie (dance) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Stride is a pioneering jazz piano style. ...

Solo jazz piano presents a basic problem which various methods, or a combination of those methods, attempt to solve. The solutions that readily present themselves, and are often tried, are not always the most effective. The problem is essentially that the pianist has to accomplish three basic objectives:

1) Provide a clear pulse. This might be attempted by striking a beat with the right hand just after he strikes a weaker beat with the left hand. While many jazz players do this habitually, it can also be accomplished in the left hand alone, by imitating the weaker beat preparatory swing note that is played by a bass player just before he strikes some of the notes of the bassline.

2) State the harmony or "guide tones" of the chord changes.

3) Play the melody or melodic solo material with the right hand.

Surprisingly, it is possible to meet all these demands simultaneously, and in addition there can be brief intervals where they are not quite being met (Art Tatum for example did not stride as constantly as he could have). One commonly used method for solving the tripartite problem is to hold the hands together away from the keyboard in a shape like a "fork," with the fingers nearest the thumbs joining the thumb to form a central group, while the fourth and fifth fingers spread outward to form branches on either side. Many jazz pianists play by placing this shape on the keyboard, and using the left branch to play bass notes, the middle to attend to guide tones and the right brach for upper lines.

If this method does not prove feasible, however, it is also possible, and simpler, to elaborate the bassline, while taking over all the guide-tone and melodic tasks with the right hand alone.

See also

• List of jazz pianists
• Jazz guitar

This is an alphabetized list of notable pianists who play or played Jazz music. ... Jazz guitar refers to the use of guitar in jazz music. ...

Further reading

• The Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine: A "how to" book on the subject.
• Metaphors For The Musician by Randy Halberstadt: Insights into almost every aspect of jazz piano.
• Stylistic II/V7/I Voicings For Keyboardists by Luke Gillespie: Covers all styles of comping, from basic and fundamental approaches to modern.
• Forward Motion by Hal Galper: An approach to Jazz Phrasing.
• The Left Hand by Ricardo Scivales: A study of the history of the Left Hand in Jazz Piano

The Jazz Piano Book is a tutorial by Mark Levine that aims to summarise the musical theory required by an aspirant Jazz pianist. ... Mark LeVine is a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. ... Forward Motion is an album by Mezzoforte, released in 2004. ... Harold Hal Galper is a jazz pianist born in Salem, Massachusetts on April 18, 1938. ...

External links

• Piano Jazz - Marian McPartland's program on National Public Radio
• Learn Jazz Piano - Scot Ranney's acclaimed site devoted to the art of jazz piano
• Jazz Piano I - Wikiversity's jazz piano learning page
• JazzKids - Willie Myette's acclaimed JazzKids program. Teaching jazz to beginning improvisors