Whether laying the foundations for a star soloist or taking the lead role themselves, the best jazz pianists through history have been crucial in defining the different styles we know as jazz.
In fact, if you look back from ragtime to swing to bebop to avant-garde and beyond, this versatile instrument has been at the forefront of the development.
As part of our series on jazz piano, we’ve put together our pick of the greatest jazz pianists of all time.
Not only are they brilliant musicians spanning generations and sub-genres, but each played an important role in the moving the jazz tradition forwards.
Of course, there are lots of other musicians who could be here too, but we hope this list will give you a good starting point for (re)discovering some of these legendary jazz piano players.
And, if you’re looking to go deeper, don’t miss out pick of the 10 most essential jazz piano albums.
Table of Contents
25. Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole is renowned as both a hugely talented and swinging piano player as well as a commercially successful yet highly sensitive singer.
A towering jazz pianist and cultural icon (he sold over 50 million records) his legacy continues to inspire countless musicians to this day.
And whilst it’s his classy vocals that the average music fan will remember, his early piano trio sessions (featuring piano, bass and guitar) had a lasting impact on the likes of Oscar Peterson and Ahmad Jamal.
Recommended album: Nat King Cole at the Piano
24. Ahmad Jamal
Across a career that has lasted more than 6 decades, American jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal has not only recorded some of the best-loved piano trio albums in jazz history, but also been credited as influencing many fellow legends.
Hailed as a future great, aged 14, by none other than Art Tatum, the Pittsburgh musician counts early influences such as Billy Strayhorn, Earl Hines, Mary Lou Williams and Erroll Garner.
Despite coming through at a time when bebop was king, Jamal was influenced by the emergence of Cool Jazz; something which can be heard in his spacious and considered playing.
Recommended album: At the Pershing: But Not For Me
This 1958 live album stayed in the best-selling charts for more than 2 years and features Jamal alongside bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier.
23. Horace Silver
A pioneer of Hard Bop, Horace Silver’s piano playing can be heard on many of the Blue Note albums of the era and stayed with the label for 28 years.
Whilst he rose to prominence both as a pianist and composer in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, it was his work with his own band in the late 50s and early-60s which really saw him achieve mainstream success.
Several Horace Silver compositions – including Song For My Father – have gone on to be jazz standards and his tunes are recognisable for their catchy, bluesy melodies, combined with a more intricate harmonic structure.
Recommended Horace Silver album: Song for My Father
22. Fats Waller
Born in 1904, Fats Waller is credited as laying some of the most important foundations for modern jazz piano.
A true virtuoso, he mastered the stride piano style – arguably surpassing his mentor James P Johnson – but paired this with the skills of a true entertainer.
Despite dying before his 40th birthday, he wrote hundreds of songs – including some, such as Honeysuckle Rose and Ain’t Misbehavin, which are played to this day – and achieved massive mainstream success.
He also wrote what many believe to be the first jazz waltz, in Jitterbug Waltz.
21. Michel Petrucciani
Petrucciani was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic condition which caused him to have brittle bones and only grow to three feet in height.
But despite this, he became a world-renowned jazz piano player and a national hero in his home country of France.
His extrovert style and virtuosic technique saw him accompanying the likes of Joe Lovano and Charles Lloyd, whilst his own group toured heavily too.
Known for his showmanship, confidence and zest for life, he passed away in 1999 at just 36 years of age.
Key album: Michel Petrucciani – Power of Three
Power of Three, recorded live at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1986, features Michael Petrucciani with two giants of American jazz: Wayne Shorter on soprano and tenor saxophone, and guitarist Jim Hall.
Despite being only 23 at the time, it was the pianist’s 12th album as a leader and is available to watch on (highly recommended!) DVD.
20. Mary Lou Williams
Beginning her career in 1922 at the age of 12, Mary Lou Williams was one of the first big female success stories in jazz and one of only three women to appear on Art Kane’s iconic photograph A Great Day In Harlem.
One early highlight as a teenager was performing with Duke Ellington in The Washingtonians and the other credits from her career reads like a who’s who of jazz, including Hank Jones, Jack Teagarden, Tadd Dameron, Earl Hines, Dizzy Gillespie & Benny Goodman…
With more than 100 recordings in her discography, she also acted as a mentor to future jazz piano star Thelonious Monk.
19. Wynton Kelly
Whilst Wynton Kelly will perhaps always be known as the pianist on ‘the best jazz album of all time’, his blues-tinged playing both as a sideman and bandleader graces many jazz aficionado record collections.
Starting out as an R&B pianist – perhaps where he developed his trademark ‘happy’ style – he worked with many of the jazz greats in the 1950s, including Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Griffin and Sonny Rollins.
Whilst he struggled to find as much commercial success as a bandleader, his early 1960s piano trio albums are textbook examples of his hard-swinging and subtle comping style.
18. Jelly Roll Morton
Jazz has always featured a mix of different cultural influences, right back to its beginnings in the ‘melting pot’ city of New Orleans in the early 20th Century.
The innovative pianist Jelly Roll Morton, who grew up in the city, referred to a “Spanish tinge” (meaning the influence of Latin rhythms) in his music, and the influential critic Stanley Crouch has described this element as one of jazz’s defining characteristics (along with swing, blues and the meditative ballad).
17. Errol Garner
Born in 1921, Errol Garner was known for his hard-swinging piano playing which came out of the early stride style but quickly developed into something altogether more unique. Right hand-octaves, block chords and voicings and behind-the-beat playing were all trademarks of his style.
A prolific composer, he wrote one of the most famous jazz ballads of all time – Misty – which has gone on to be covered by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan to Hank Jones and Oscar Peterson.
Recommended album: Concert By The Sea
16. Alice Coltrane
Born Alice McLeod in Michigan, Detroit, Alice Coltrane started out as a jazz pianist in various straight ahead and swinging settings, including with Kenny Clarke, Lucky Thompson and vibraphonist Terry Gibbs.
It was after meeting John Coltrane in the early 60s and becoming deeply spiritual that she developed the freer style of jazz piano – first with his groups, then under her own name – that she is now famous for.
Whilst she is also known as a harpist and organist, her contribution to free jazz piano and experimental, cosmic sounds have proved her legacy.
Recommended Alice Coltrane album: A Monastic Trio
15. McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is most famous for his role in John Coltrane’s great 1960s quartet, with which he recorded classic albums like My Favourite Things and A Love Supreme.
But he was a highly experimental ja