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Piano Solos


Vincent, Paris

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Big question!

Some personal favourites:

Meade Lux Lewis - The Blues (4 Parts; Blue Note - 'The First Day'). The essence of the music, for me. I hear this every time I hear one of my contemporaries at music college play their million-mil-an-hour, 9/8, multiple key - but ultimately, utterly vacuous - readings of 'Giant Steps', or whatever. On a boogie theme, I'm just rediscovering Jimmy Yancey. His feeling for the blues is amazing.

Teddy Wilson - a bit of a perverse choice in some respects, but his solo introduction to Billie Holiday's version of 'What a Little Moonlight Can Do' is a miniature masterpiece.

Art Tatum - I have a bit of a thing with Tatum. Every time I hear him play anything, I lose all critical faculties, and think that he owns whatever he just played. So a bit difficult to choose. But, one of the first tunes I can remember hearing of his (not the first) was 'I Cover the Waterfront' from the private sessions recorded at Ray Heindorf's house. If I'm allowed a trio recording, 'If' from the trio record with Red Callender and Jo Jones is the one.

Actually, that said, I'm not sure I quite understood the question - are you after solo piano albums, or great piano solos, regardless of context?

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Some essential favorites:

- Teddy Wilson 'The Complete Piano Solos' (Columbia France)

- Art Tatum the VDiscs solo sessions

- Thelonious Monk, the Vogue Paris sides

- Bud Powell 'Moods' (Verve)

- Lennie Tristano 'The New Tristano' (Atlantic)

- Phineas Newborn 'Solo Piano' (Atlantic)

- Cecil Taylor 'Silent Tongues' (Arista)

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Actually, that said, I'm not sure I quite understood the question - are you after solo piano albums, or great piano solos, regardless of context?

Solo piano albums, not single tracks, like

"Alone in San Francisco" by Thelonious Monk

"At Maybeck" by Hank Jones

"Solobsession" by Bojan Zulfikarpasic

"Evolution" by John Lewis

These are the ones I can think of now. Add your favorites !

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Bertrand, no I never have heard that one, love the Monk and the Mingus you cite. (The Mingus is one of those rare cds I have in the living room, in my listening room, and at work!)

Another favorite solo piano release of mine is Gasline Plays Ayler.

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- MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS: THINGS TO COME FROM THOSE NOW GONE (DELMARK)

- RAN BLAKE: BREAKTHRU (IAI)

- RAN BLAKE: PAINTED RYTHMS (VOL. 1) (GM)

- RAN BLAKE: PAINTED RYTHMS (VOL. 2)

- PAUL BLEY: OPEN, TO LOVE (ECM)

- PAUL BLEY: HOMAGE TO CARLA (OWL)

- DAVE BRUBECK: BRUBECK PLAYS BRUBECK (COLUMBIA)

- JAKI BYARD: TO THEM, TO US (SOUL NOTE)

- STANLEY COWELL: ANGEL EYES (STEEPLECHASE)

- CONNIE CROTHERS: MUSIC FROM EVERYDAY LIFE (NEW ARTISTS)

- MARILYN CRISPELL: FOR COLTRANE (LEO RECORDS)

- GIORGIO GASLINI: GASLINI PLAYS MONK (SOUL NOTE)

- GEORGE GRAEWE: FANTASIESTÜCK I - XIII (NUSCOPE)

- ABDULLAH IBRAHIM: ANCIENT AFRICA (SACKVILLE)

- KEITH JARRETT: PIANO (ECM)

- MISHA MENGELBERG: IMPROMPTUS (FMP)

- CHARLES MINGUS: PLAYS PIANO (IMPULSE!)

- THELONIOUS MONK: ALONE IN SAN FRANCISCO (RIVERSIDE)

- THELONIOUS MONK: MONK ALONE (THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA SOLO RECORDINGS)

- HOWARD RILEY: AIR PLAY (SLAM)

- IRENE SCHWEIZER: CHICAGO PIANO SOLO (INTAKT)

- MARTIAL SOLAL: BLUESINE (SOUL NOTE)

- SUN RA: ST. LOUIS BLUES (SOLO PIANO) (IAI)

- ART TATUM: IN PRIVATE (FRESH SOUND RECORDS)

- CECIL TAYLOR: INDENT (FREEDOM)

- CECIL TAYLOR: SILENT TONGUES (BLACK LION)

- CECIL TAYLOR: FOR OLIM (SOUL NOTE)

- CECIL TAYLOR: THE TREE OF LIFE (FMP)

- CECIL TAYLOR: WILLISAU CONCERT (INTAKT)

- KEITH TIPPETT: MUJICIAN I/ II (FMP)

- LENNIE TRISTANO: TRISTANO (ATLANTIC)

- LENNIE TRISTANO: THE NEW TRISTANO (ATLANTIC)

- FRED VAN HOVE: FLUX (POTLACH)

- MAL WALDRON: UPDATE (SOUL NOTE)

- PER HENRIK WALLIN: ONE KNIFE IS ENOUGH (CAPRICE)

- MARY LOU WILLIAMS: ZONING (SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS)

- CHRISTINE WODRASKA: VERTICAL (FMP)

Edited by P.L.M
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Paul Bley - Hommage to Carla (Owl / Universal France)

Randy Weston - African Nite (Owl / Universal France)

Jaki Byard - To Them, To Us (Soul Note)

Sun Ra - Solo Piano Recital, Teatro La Fenice, Venezia (Leo)

Cecil Taylor - Indent (Freedom / DA Music)

Cecil Taylor - Willisau Concert (INTAKT)

Gaorg Gräwe - San Francisco 1995 (Music & Arts)

Fred Van Hove - Complete Vogel Recordings (Atavistic)

Stefano Battaglia - Ecumenica (Splasc(h))

Sergey Kuryokhin - Waves of Freedom (Leo)

Stephan Oliva - Jazz 'n (e)motion (BMG France)

Steve Kuhn - Jazz 'n (e)motion (BMG France)

Andrew Hill - Les Trinitaires (Jazz Friends)

Edited by Д.Д.
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Much of what I would consider essential has been listed. I would include some of each of the following pianists:

Jelly Roll Morton

Art Tatum

Fats Waller (African Ripples and that stuff is great!!!)

James P. Johnson

Earl Hines

Duke Ellington

Ralph Sutton's recording of the Bix Beiderbecke pieces

Teddy Wilson (Cole Porter Classics on Black Lion)

Bud Powell

Thelonious Monk (the Columbias)

Randy Weston

Hank Jones (Savoy)

Jimmy Rowles

Jaki Byard

John Lewis (Evolution or Private Concert)

Keith Jarrett

Stanley Cowell (Musa-Ancestral Streams)

Paul Bley

Geoffrey Keezer

Edited by mikeweil
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Hank Jone solo on Savoy -

Professor Longhair on Atlantic -

Fess Manetta, ca. 1957 -

Jelly Roll on Commodore (reissue) -

Pete Gray Plays the Treble Clef -

I believe that the Atlantic Longhairs are all with band accompaniment - great stuff, nonetheless.

Good to see a mention of the Commodore Jelly Rolls. They've been personal favorites since I first heard them 40 years ago.

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Some favorites that haven't been mentioned:

Jimmy Yancey: The 2 "How Long Blues" recordings for Session in 1943; Also the 1951 Atlantic sides.

Monk: Thelonious Himself - Whenever I listen to "Functional", I have the sense that Monk drank from the same well that Jimmy Yancey did.

Jaki Byard: Flight of the Fly (Le Chant du Monde)

Luckey Roberts & Willie "The Lion" Smith: Harlem Piano (Good Time Jazz)

Earl Hines: Spontaneous Explrations - Solo (Contact/Red Baron) - Earl Hines made a lot of great solo albums. This is just a personal favorite.

Jimmy Rowles: Plays Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (Columbia)

Otis Spann: Is the Blues & Walkin' the Blues (Candid/Barnaby) - the solo sides

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Being late to the party I assume all of these have been mentioned, but...

Abdullah Ibrahim - African Piano (ECM)

Cecil Taylor - Willisau Concert (Intakt)

Irene Schweizer - Chicago Piano Solo (Intakt)

Paul Bley - For Carla (Owl)

Randy Weston - Blues to Africa (Freedom)

Art Tatum - as others above, not sure what to recommend...

Jelly Roll - those early solo sides, I got them on a Chronogical Classics disc

Monk - the Vogue date

John Lewis - Private Concert

Tristano - the Atlantic solo stuff

Mingus plays Piano

Keith Tippett - Mujician (FMP)

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