So i want some GREAT piano-driven jazz...

[Kaboom]

Who can help me? Any artists or special albums i should look for?

[nobody]

Oscar Peterson jumps immediately to mind. His album Night Train is the first thing I thought of when I read the title of your post.

Of course, you also wanna grab some Monk, I'm a big fan of Monk's Dream, and you may also want some Red Garland.

I also like older piano stuff like Fats Waller, and ragtime stuff like Scott Joplin, but that may be going too far back, depending what you're wanting.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Who can help me? Any artists or special albums i should look for?

Bill Evans Trio - Sunday at the Village Vanguard/Waltz for Debbie; twin recordings of the same stint at The Village Vanguard in 1961. The Vanguard disc features songs emphasising the incredible bass playing of Scott Lafaro, who whould die in a car accidient soon after this recording. However I prefer Debbie, for its superior choice of material. And the sound quality of my Analogue Productions vinyl re-issue is among the best in my collection. Both discs are essential. I'd also recommend Portrait in Jazz, for a Evans studio recording.

Oscar Peterson - Night Train, a generally upbeat, bluesy set featuring Ray Brown on bass & Ed Thigpen on drums.

Dave Brubeck - Time Out Not much to say...A classic.

Thelonious Monk; you could pick any one of maybe a dozen Monk records, and they would be essential for any jazz collection, some of my favorites; Monk/Coltrane, Alone In San Francisco, Thelonious In Action and Misterioso.

The Art Tatum Group Masterpieces; there are a whole bunch of these, I think the one I have is a 1956 recording, Vol. VIII, I think, featuring Ben Webster on tenor. I have the JVC XRCD and again the quality is sublime with just fantastic dynamics.

For some more contemporary recordings...Keith Jarrett The Koln Concert, Mike Garson The Oxnard Sessions, Vol II, and Dick Hyman Plays Duke Ellington

Enjoy.

[BinFrog]

Ex Lion Tamer: Great list!


Also look for:

The Bad Plus "These Are The Vistas". These guys are a new avant garde jazz trio from NYC. Very exciting to see in concert.

Anything by McCoy Tyner. Try "Illuminations" or "Sahara".

[DarrenH]

Lots of great suggestions already.

Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio - Recorded November of 1952. It's not a trio btw. It should have been listed as a quartet but anyway, it's a great cd with the great Lester Young on tenor sax. This is the remaster from Norgran Records, a division of Verve.

Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell Volume One. The RVG remaster. Covering sessions from 1949 and 1951.

Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell Volume Two. The RVG remaster. Covering sessions from 1951 and 1953.

There's also a four CD box set that covers this material as there was a volume 3 and 4 and I believe a volume 5.

Dave Brubeck - Time Out and Time Further Out. Really, anything from him. Even his later period stuff is good.

And I'll throw in a plug for Vince Guaraldi. He's most noted for his work with the Charlie Brown cartoon but give Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus a try. It's really quite good.

Darren

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Anything by McCoy Tyner. Try "Illuminations" or "Sahara".

I don't have either of those albums, but the Chesky release New York Reunion, with Joe Henderson and Ron Carter is a reference quality recording of some great music.

[Mr Peabody]

Gene Harris is incredible. Joe Sample is good, he played with the Crusaders, Fourplay and I'm sure many others i'm not aware of. Chic Corea has an album that's just him and a Grand piano, but I forget the name. Herbie Hancock also has some acoustic piano stuff out. Jonathan Cain has some solo albums out of piano pieces that are very good. They aren't traditional jazz though, leaning more toward "Smooth Jazz" or just instrumental.

[Davey]

Lots of classics, but if you already have all those here's a few newer ones I like....

McCoy Tyner Trio - Infinity (piano, bass and drums w/ Michael Brecker on tenor sax and added percussionist on two tracks)
Lots of other good ones in his catalog that have already been mentioned.

Marcus Roberts Trio - In Honor of Duke (piano, bass and drums w/ added Cuban percussionist on two tracks)
Marcus Roberts is an amazing pianist and his arranging skills are really highlighted on this most recent one that I have, which is a true trio except for the added percussion on a couple tracks. But my favorite might be As Serenity Approaches from 1991, which has Roberts in both a solo setting and also duetting with some great horn players on 8 of the 19 tracks. Extremely nice recording too, done mostly at St. Joseph Cathedral in New Orleans.

Jackie Terrason - Rendezvous (w/ Cassandra Wilson)
Terrason is always a tasteful player but sometimes a bit too restrained for my taste. Add in Cassandra Wilson's vocals and it's not bad at all.

Chucho Valdes - Bele Bele en La Habana (piano, bass and drums w/ added Cuban percussionist)
Chucho can play like a man on fire at times and he can also melt your heart with a few slow lines. There is an added percussionist to liven things up a bit.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Jackie Terrason - Rendezvous (w/ Cassandra Wilson)
Terrason is always a tasteful player but sometimes a bit too restrained for my taste. Add in Cassandra Wilson's vocals and it's not bad at all.

This one never grabbed me, listened to it a couple times and shelved it. I think I'll give it a listen this morning and see if anything's changed.

[3-LockBox]

I only know of one of Elias' albums, Comparri And Soda, but its a good one.

I can highly recommend two Bob James's albums, Restless and Bob James Trio.

But I'm not a fan of his other projects.

Also, give Harry Connick Jr Trio a try.

[EC Freight Train]

Who can help me? Any artists or special albums i should look for?

Everybody who knows even an ounce about jazz would say The Horace Silver Quintet/Song For My father but I his effort called Sayonara Blues.

Sonny Clark is another.Again the starter would be My Concepction.With a typical Blue Note stellar cast of Hank Mobley,Art Blakely,Paul Chambers,Kenny Burrell,Clifford Jordan,Donald Byrd and Pete LaRoca there is jazz magic in the air.

I think you should listen to Darren.He has 150 jazz cds.He's a genious.
EC Freight Train

[EC Freight Train]

Who can help me? Any artists or special albums i should look for?

Leaning more to side of rock/jazz I would suggest some Brian Auger. A blast from the past he headed the Oblivion Express in the 70s and made some jazzy/funky music that was quite good. He is overlooked but is still making good music today. Allthough his cds are hard to find.

In the hard bop genre you should seek out Herbie Nichols.
EC Freight Train

[Dave_G]

Also not necessarily piano driven, but several of the Return to Forever albums are good, and of course there are some Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea solo albums that are pure piano recordings.

Years ago I saw the duo of Chick and Herbie, piano only, pretty good for that sort of thing.

Dave

[Ex Lion Tamer]

The Art Tatum Group Masterpieces; there are a whole bunch of these, I think the one I have is a 1956 recording, Vol. VIII, I think, featuring Ben Webster on tenor.

I just listened to this again this morning and Ben Webster's Tenor Sax sounds fantastic. Huge, Fat, maybe a touch too much reverb, but it definitely gives it a sense of space around the instrument. As pleasant sounding a tenor sax recording as I can recall.

[DarrenH]

Anything by McCoy Tyner. Try "Illuminations" or "Sahara".

Hey BinFrog,

I just picked up "Illuminations" today and is this ever good. Two things surprised me:

First - That it was recorded just last year and....

Second - His playing style hasn't changed much over the years.

I compared this recording to 1967's "The Real McCoy" and the similarities in style are amazing.

Thanks for the recommendation BinFrog.

Oh, one minor thing. While I enjoy Telarc recordings they can be on the quiet side. A little increase in volume was required.

Darren

[BarryL]

Who can help me? Any artists or special albums i should look for?

Ahmad Jamal - Pittsburg
Also check out Chick Corea's work with the Akoustic Band. And there is always Keith Jarrett, but he's not for everyone.

[BinFrog]

Hey BinFrog,

I just picked up "Illuminations" today and is this ever good. Two things surprised me:

First - That it was recorded just last year and....

Second - His playing style hasn't changed much over the years.

I compared this recording to 1967's "The Real McCoy" and the similarities in style are amazing.

Thanks for the recommendation BinFrog.

Oh, one minor thing. While I enjoy Telarc recordings they can be on the quiet side. A little increase in volume was required.

Darren

Glad you enjoyed it. I have it on SACD (as well as the reunion one mentioned above) and the sound quality is on par with the best I've heard.

[Kaboom]

so far i've gotten the We get requests Verve remaster and i think its some seriously AWESOME music.
I will save this thread on my computer and attempt to either borrow or buy the recordings listed here. Thanx a lot everyone for the help!

[Lord Nikon]

I would also recommend anything T-Monk or Cannonball Adderly. I own the entire Time Life jazz collection and it rocks.

[Woochifer]

I was going to suggest Ahmad Jamal as well. VERY underrated jazz pianist.

Add another plug for Horace Silver, IMO the all-time piano master of hard bop. Look for the stuff that he recorded with Art Blakey, as well as his Blue Note recordings from around the early-50s thru the mid-60s (Finger Poppin', Blowin' The Blues Away, Song For My Father, 6 Pieces of Silver, etc.)

Two other jazz pianists you should try on for size are Kenny Drew and Sonny Clark.

[mwheelerk]

Wynton Kelly - Kelly Blue