Your favorite solo piano records

[Teasing the Korean]

For a while, I was getting every solo piano album I could get my hands on.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the solo piano albums by Kenny Drew or Hank Jones.  Unless I'm tired and I missed them.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Teasing the Korean

[optatio]

[JSngry]

30 minutes ago, EKE BBB said:

Some of my favourite piano solos come from these recording sessions:

Not strictly a "solo piano" record, but imop this is an essential document for many, many reasons:

https://www.discogs.com/release/12218798-Willie-The-Lion-Smith-The-Memoirs-Of-Willie-The-Lion-Smith

[T.D.]

He shouldn't supplant the other stride names mentioned, but Don Ewell's playing always gives me pleasure. Although I more often listen to him in a small group setting:

 

 

[Rooster_Ties]

Lennie Tristano’s solo output never fails to turn my crank.

There’s about 2 hours of ‘em, irrc — one full disc on the Tristano/Konitz/Marsh Mosaic — and another full disc on the more recent all-Lennie box (personal recordings).

And then at least one disc on his own ‘Jazz Records’ label (Descent Into the Maelstrom) — which has these 7 solo tracks:

1. Descent Into the Maelstrom (3:28)
2. Dream (3:28)
3. Lullabye (1:53)
4. Image (4:11)
   Rehearsal from Recording Date:
5. Take 1 (4:35)
6. Take 2 (3:12)
7. Take 3 (4:06)

Edited November 5, 2023 by Rooster_Ties

[Д.Д.]

These are the ones I like, going chronologically. I don't list any classical stuff, too much of it.  

• Thelonious Monk - Piano Solo (Vogue)

• Charles Mingus - Mingus Plays Piano

• Muhal Richard Abrams – Young At Heart / Wise In Time

• Thelonious Monk - The London Collection Volume 1

• Earl Hines - Tour de Force

• Cecil Taylor - Indent

• Randy Weston - Blues to Africa

• Martial Solal - Nothing But the Piano

• Andrew Hill - Solo (Mosaic)

• Anthony Davis - Lady of the Mirrors

• Cecil Taylor - Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!

• Jaki Byard - To Them - To Us

• Masahiko Satoh - "apostrophe"

• Johnny Guarnieri - Echoes Of Ellington

• Sakis Papadimitriou - Piano Cellules

• Roger Kellaway - Live At Maybeck Recital Hall

• Bheki Mseleku - Meditations

• Georg Gräwe - Gedächtnisspuren. San Francisco 1995

• John Wolf Brennan - The Well-Prepared Clavier

• John Law - The Hours

• Oskar Aichinger - Poemia

• Matthew Goodheart - Songs From the Time of Great Questioning

• Stephan Oliva - Jazz 'n (E)Motion. Films

• Steve Kuhn - Jazz 'n (E)Motion. Films

• Larry Karush - Art of the Improviser

• Misha Mengelberg - Solo

• Irène Schweizer - chicago piano solo

• Burton Greene - Live at Grasland

• Antoine Hervé - Inside. Piano Solo.

• John Taylor - Insight

• Irène Schweizer - First Choice - Piano Solo Kkl Luzern

• Rob van den Broeck - Latinesque

• Paul Bley - About Time

• Martial Solal - Live At The Village Vanguard

• Cor Fuhler - MP

• Renato Sellani - Glad There Is You

• Enrico Pieranunzi – Autour De Martinu - Live At The Bird's Eye

• Agustí Fernández – Mnemosyne's Labyrinth (from the River Tiger Fire 4-CD set)

• Thollem - Obstacle Illusion

Edited November 5, 2023 by Д.Д.

[felser]

21 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

I discovered the tape while preparing the cd reissue of the '60s AACM series for Delmark. The first couple of minutes are "warming up" but the rest is fascinating. I sent a copy to Muhal's wife. Rights have not been cleared.

Any hope the rights will be cleared, and the material released?

[jazztrain]

[Ken Dryden]

On 11/4/2023 at 4:45 PM, Stompin at the Savoy said:

I like the Dick Hyman volume:

Long a favorite of mine.

[Chuck Nessa]

3 hours ago, felser said:

Any hope the rights will be cleared, and the material released?

Not up to me and Delmark has "changed hands" since then.

[Peter Friedman]

Here are 15 of my favorite solo jazz piano recordings.

Cedar Walton - Blues For Myself - Red

Barry Harris - Solo -  September 

Ray Bryant - Alone With The Blues - New Jazz

Lou Levy - By Myself - Verve

Hank Jones - At Maybeck - Concord

 Dollar Brand (Adlullah Ibrahim) - Anthem For The New Nations - Denon

Mulgrew Miller - Solo - Space Time

George Cables - At Maybeck - Concord

Larry Willis - This Time The Dreams On me - High Gate

Dodo Moroni - The Way I Am - Jazz Conaisseur

Mike Wofford At Maybeck - Concord

Horace Parlan - The Maestro - Steeplechase

Dave McKenna - My Friend The Piano - Concord

John Lewis - Piano, Paris 1979 - Dreyfus

John Hicks - I remember You - High Note

 

 

[HutchFan]

1 hour ago, Peter Friedman said:

Here are 15 of my favorite solo jazz piano recordings.

Cedar Walton - Blues For Myself - Red

Barry Harris - Solo -  September 

Ray Bryant - Alone With The Blues - New Jazz

Lou Levy - By Myself - Verve

Hank Jones - At Maybeck - Concord

 Dollar Brand (Adlullah Ibrahim) - Anthem For The New Nations - Denon

Mulgrew Miller - Solo - Space Time

George Cables - At Maybeck - Concord

Larry Willis - This Time The Dreams On me - High Gate

Dodo Moroni - The Way I Am - Jazz Conaisseur

Mike Wofford At Maybeck - Concord

Horace Parlan - The Maestro - Steeplechase

Dave McKenna - My Friend The Piano - Concord

John Lewis - Piano, Paris 1979 - Dreyfus

John Hicks - I remember You - High Note

Nice list, Peter!  

I could have easily included the Mike Wofford at Maybeck and John Lewis' Piano, Paris 1979 albums on my list too. 

 

[mikeweil]

Some more:

[T.D.]

That Walter Davis Jr. album is very good. And it takes a lot for a Monk tribute to move the needle.

[HutchFan]

I forgot to include these three on my list:

 

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by HutchFan

[Dub Modal]

For future reference and making sure this gets chronicled to some degree while I have the time, here are the individual album recs in order of appearance (duplicates omitted): 

1. Muhal Richard Abrams - Young At Heart/Wise In Time (A-side)
2. Barry Harris - The Bird of Red & Gold
3. Rene Urtreger - Onirica
4. Rene Urtreger - Tentatives 
5. Richie Beirach - Breathing of Statues (CMP/Magenta)
6. Sir Roland Hanna - Solo Piano: Free Spirit (Storyville)
7. John Hicks - Hicks Time: Solo Piano (Passin' Thru)
8. Andrew Hill - Hommage (East Wind)
9. Earl Hines - Tour de Force (Black Lion)
10. Keith Jarrett - Facing You (ECM)
11. Enrico Pieranunzi - Perugia Suite (EGEA)
12. Mal Waldron - Update (Soul Note)
13. Randy Weston - Marrakech in the Cool of the Evening (Verve)
14. Larry Wilis - This Time the Dream's On Me (HighNote)
15. Thelonious Monk - Himself
16. Sophie Agnel - Capsizing Moments (Emanem)
17. Ran Blake - Painted Rhythms: The Compleat Ran Blake Vols 1&2 (GM Recordings)
18. Dave Burrell - Windward Passages (hat ART)
19. Curtis Clark - Self Trait (FMP)
20. Marilyn Crispell - For Coltrane (Leo)
21. Andrew Hill - Mosaic Select Solo
22. Chris McGregor - In His Good Time (Ogun)
23. Thelonious Monk - Piano Solo (Vogue)
24. Sal Mosca - Too Marvelous For Words (June '81, 5 Concerts from the Netherlands, Cadence)
25. Michel Petrucciani - Live (Dreyfuss)
26. Eve Risser - Des Pas Sur La Neige (Clean Feed)
27. Irene Schweizer - First Choice - Piano Solo KKL Luzern (Intakt)
28. Matthew Shipp - Piano Sutras (Thirsty Ear)
29. Martial Solal - Bluesine (Soul Note)
30. Sun Ra - Monorails & Satellites (Saturn)
31. Cecil Taylor - Erzulie Maketh Scent (FMP)
32. Pat Thomas - The Elephant Clock of Al Jazari (Otoroku)
33. Keith Tippett - Musician III: August Air (FMP)
34. Jessica Williams - All Alone (MaxxJazz)
35. Larry Wilis - Solo Spirit (Mapleshade)
36. Duke Ellington - At the Whitney
37. Red Garland - Red Alone
38. Red Garland - Alone with the Blues
39. Duke Ellington - The Piano Player
40. Andrew Hill - Live at Monreux
41. McCoy Tyner - Echoes of a Friend
42. Aki Takahashi - Piano Space
43. Bud Powell - Solo, Feb '51 (Clef)
44. Jelly Roll Morton - Solo, '40 (General)
45. Abdullah Ibrahim - Fats, Duke & The Monk (Sackville)
46. Charles Mingus - Mingus Plays Piano
47. Earl Hines - Plays Duke Ellington
48. Weber Iago - Piano Masters Series 
49. Bill Evans - The Solo Sessions vol 1
50. Benny Green - Solo
51. Geoff Keezer - Zero One
52. Bernie Worrell - Elevation, The Upper Air
53. Randy Weston - Blues to Africa
54. Monk Alone- Complete Columbia Solo Studio Recordings '62-'68
55. Abdullah Ibrahim - Senzo
56. Art Tatum - Solo Masterpieces vol 2
57. Thelonoius Monk - Solo in San Francisco
58. Oscar Peterson - My Favorite Instrument
59. Abdullah Ibrahim - African Magic 
60. Uri Caine - Moloch
61. Mal Waldron - Meditations
62. Mal Waldron - The Opening
63. Michel Petrucciani - Au Theatre Champes-Elysees 
64. Don Pullen - Healing Force
65. Don Pullen - Evidence of Things Unseen
66. Andrew Hill - Faces of Hope
67. Andrew Hill - Verona Rag
68. Junior Mance - Jubilation
69. Ray Bryant - Alone with the Blues
70. Jimmy Yancey - Complete Recorded Works '39-'50, Vol 1
71. Gene Harris - Live at Maybeck
72. Stanley Cowell - Live at Maybeck
73. Dick Hyman - Live at Maybeck 
74. John Hicks - Live at Maybeck
75. Joanne Brackeen - Live at Maybeck 
76. Andre Previn - Plays Harold Arlen
77. Paul Bley - Play Blue, Oslo Concert 
78. Abdullah Ibrahim - Memories 
79. Dollar Brand - Ode to Duke Ellington
80. Matthew Shipp - The Piano Equation
81. Art Tatum - LA '56
82. Bud Powell - Strictly Confidential
83. Willie "The Lion" Smith - The Original 14 Plus 2 '38-'39 (Commodore Classics)
84. Amina Claudine Myers - Poems for Piano, The Piano Music of Marion Brown
85. Willie "The Lion" Smith - The Memoirs of...
86. Don Ewell - Take It In Stride 
87. Lennie Tristano - Tristano/Konitz/Marsh (Mosaic)
88. Lennie Tristano - Personal Recordings (Mosaic)
89. Lennie Tristano - Descent Into the Maelstrom (Jazz Records)
90. Thelonious Monk - The London Collection, vol 1
91. Cecil Taylor - Indent
92. Martial Solal - Nothing But the Piano
93. Anthony Davis - Lady of the Mirrors
94. Cecil Taylor - Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fyi!
95. Jaki Beard - To Them, To Us
96. Masahiko Satoh - apostrophe 
97. Johnny Guarnieri - Echoes of Ellington
98. Saki Papadimitriou - Piano Cellules
99. Roger Kellaway - Live at Maybeck
100. Bheki Mseleku - Meditations
101. Georg Grawe - Gedachtnisspuren. San Francisco '95
102. John Wolf Brennan - The Well-Prepared Clavier
103. John Law - The Hours
104. Oskar Aichinger - Poemia
105. Matthew Goodheart - Songs From the Time of Great Questioning 
106. Stephan Oliva - Jazz'n (E)Motion. Films
107. Steve Kuhn - Jazz'n (E)Motion. Films
108. Larry Karush - Art of the Improviser 
109. Misha Mengelberg - Solo
110. Irene Schweizer - Chicago piano solo
111. Burton Greene - Live at Grasland
112. Antoine Herve - Inside. Piano. Solo.
113. John Taylor - Insight
114. Rob van den Broeck - Latinesque
115. Paul Bley - About Time
116. Martial Solal - Live at the Village Vanguard
117. Cor Fuhler - MP
118. Renato Sellani - Glad There Is You
119. Enrico Pieranunzi - Autour De Martinu - Live at the Bird's Eye
120. Agustí Fernandez - Mnemosyne's Labyrinth (From the River Tiger Fire 4-CD Set)
121. Thollem - Obstacle Illusion
122. Dave McKenna - Dave Fingers McKenna 
123. Cedar Walton - Blues for Myself (Red)
124. Barry Harris - Solo (September)
125. Lou Levy - By Myself (Verve)
126. Hank Jones - Live at Maybeck
127. Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) - Anthem for the New Nations (Denon)
128. Mulgrew Miller - Solo (Space Time)
129. George Cables - Live at Maybeck
130. Larry Willis - This Time the Dream's On Me (High Gate)
131. Dodo Moroni - The Way I Am (Jazz Conaisseur)
132. Mike Wofford - Live at Maybeck
133. Horace Parlan - The Maestro (Steeplechase)
134. Dave McKenna - My Friend the Piano (Concord)
135. John Lewis - Piano, Paris '79 (Dreyfus)
136. John Hicks - I Remember You (High Note)
137. John Lewis - Private Concert
138. Fats Waller - Piano Solos '29-'41 (Bluebird)
139. Ken Werner - The Piano Music of Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, James P. Johnson
140. Walter Davis, Jr. - In Walked Thelonious 
141. Nina Simone - And Piano!
142. Jay McShann - Kansas City Hustle (Sackville)
143. Mary Lou Williams - Nite Life
144. Masabumi Kikuchi - Hanamichi 

 

Amazing stuff - thanks for all the recs 👍

 

Edited November 8, 2023 by Dub Modal
Addition

[Niko]

An awesome list... If I can add one more: Masabumi Kikuchi - Hanamichi (if you can tolerate some singing along a la Jarrett)

[Dub Modal]

9 minutes ago, Niko said:

An awesome list... If I can add one more: Masabumi Kikuchi - Hanamichi (if you can tolerate some singing along a la Jarrett)

Added

[clifford_thornton]

On 11/3/2023 at 8:50 PM, rostasi said:

yes, this is an excellent set.

Count me in on more from that Young At Heart/Wise In Time set.

[Jim Duckworth]

[JSngry]

On Owl:

https://www.discogs.com/master/586523-Paul-Bley-Homage-To-Carla

[Joe]

10 hours ago, Jim Duckworth said:

💯

[Simon8]

4 hours ago, JSngry said:

On Owl:

https://www.discogs.com/master/586523-Paul-Bley-Homage-To-Carla

I was about to mention it 👍

[soulpope]

Richie Beirach "Ballads" (CBS/Sony)     1986 .... sublime platter .... flying under the rather for many ....

[Mark Stryker]

Folks are sleeping on one of the greatest solo piano records in the canon -- "Have You Met Hank Jones" (Savoy), recorded in 1956. It also was reissued on LP as as "Solo Piano" in the 1970s. It's peerless -- the best of Hank's solo records and I'd put it up against anything by anyone. 

Coda: Was glad to see Roland Hanna mentioned by way of "Free Spirit" -- he was truly a profound solo pianist, more compelling in the idiom that any of his contemporaries. I would note that "Free Spirit,} which you sometimes see titled as "Solo Piano,"  is a double CD reissue and star of the show is the 1979 LP "Swing Me No Waltzes" that makes up half the set -- Roland's best record. Also, I find the CD sound disappointing. Thin and tinny and not faithful to Roland's fulsome sound and the better sonics of the original LPs. 

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by Mark Stryker