One of the best ways to improve your blues piano playing is to grab some licks from master blues piano players. In fact, that’s what I did on my off days when we were doing tours with B.B. King. I’d sit in my hotel rooms at night and learn licks from legendary blues piano players. Most people don’t know the best blues piano players to study.
With his apparently effortless piano playing, Batiste is able to take even classic songs such as It’s a Wonderful World and put a new spin on them. He spans genres, playing and composing jazz pianists, blues, pop, classical and even R&B and hip-hop. 4. Sergei Rachmaninoff Rachmaninoff was another early starter, playing the piano from the age of 4.
If you search for lists of the best jazz piano players, you’ll almost always find Herbie Hancock. His innovative playing cuts across styles from bebop and modal jazz with Miles Davis to fusion with the Headhunters. Herbie Hancock went from classical to jazz piano.
Horace Silver – Hard Bop Master For Jazz Piano Players Last (but certainly not the least) in this list is Horace Silver. His piano playing is very melodic and crisp with a heavy blues influence.
In this post, we are going to look at some of the most famous piano players and learn what made them special. 1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart is most famous for being a composer, and although he got an early start at that by creating music from the age of 5, he was also a virtuoso performer and also known as the child prodigy.
Franz Liszt. One of the most famous piano players of all time! He had piano superpowers and used to dazzle audiences with his extraordinary abilities. He was well-known (and mocked!) for acting dramatically while performing, contorting his face with passion and swaying his body.
Rachmaninoff was another early starter, playing the piano from the age of 4. Graduating from the Moscow Conservatory, he came to fame for his compositions, however, the negative reception of an early piece lead him to suffer a prolonged depression. After seeking treatment, he went on to achieve critical success.
Although there are more than 7500 working parts in a piano, there are some people who can bring it all together and make it sound like one, glorious whole. Playing the piano takes dedication, a commitment to practice and self-improvement.
In her approach to playing, she tried to reflect on what the original intention of the composer had been. She then taught this to her students, and it went on to become influential around the world including at Julliard.
She supports upcoming great pianists, even resigning from the panel of the 1980 Chopin Piano Competition when her favorite contestant, Ivo Pogorelich was eliminated.
When his family relocated to the USA following the Russian revolution, he earned money by performing in New York City . Perhaps one of the most famous classical pianists, Rachmaninoff featured the piano heavily in his compositions.
As far as Chicago blues style of playing he is the creme de la creme. If you want to learn hand independence and great phrasing then he’s your guy. Check out some of his tremolos and licks below.
Want to learn smokin’ blues mixed with classic rock riffs? John is the guy for this. The sounds he would get out his B3 people are still trying to model 30 years later.
Ray is perhaps my 2nd biggest blues influence. There’s a reason they call him “The Genius”. In fact, I do a complete breakdown of 1 of his classic licks in the Jazz Masters Method DVD. His blend of blues/gospel/New Orleans was and still is super innovative.
One of the greatest Hammond B-3 players of all time. If you want to learn ‘greasy’ soul drenched blues mixed with virtuosic jazz runs he’s your man.
Billy grew up as a gospel keyboard player. You can really hear it in his playing. There are thousand great Billy performances. One of my favorites is his solo on the Beatles tune “Get Back”. The blues piano licks he rips in them over just some simple rock chords are fantastic.
Ever heard of the rock band ELP (Emerson, Lake, & Palmer)? That’s Keith Emerson. If you like more of a fusion style of classical, and rock mixed together grab some of his licks. Like many great classic rock keyboard players there are a variety of bluesy runs throughout his playing.
I talked how Ray was my 2nd biggest influence. Bruce has been the biggest influence on my blues playing. He’s one of those rare guys who can play jazz and blues on a virtuosic level and teach it too. A special talent.
12. George Duke – Going From Avant Garde to Top 40 and Beyond. George Duke is one of the most versatile jazz piano players I’ve ever seen and heard. I heard him first via his top-40 hit “Sweet Baby” but then later discovered he played with Frank Zappa and Art Blakey.
One standout technique that Horace uses in his solos are fast, repeated single notes along arpeggio-based patterns, effectively simulating a guitar or mandolin.
Pay attention to how Corey weaves in a variety of chord substitutions over an E pedal tone in Snarky Puppy’s “Lingus”.
His innovative playing cuts across styles from bebop and modal jazz with Miles Davis to fusion with the Headhunters. Herbie Hancock went from classical to jazz piano. He was a classical piano prodigy at age 11, became a solid jazz pianist afterwards, and then experimented with all sorts of musical styles.
Check out his awesome keyboard solo on Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” around 08:50 in this video.
Jan Hammer’s claim to fame is the music he wrote for the ‘80s TV series “Miami Vice ”.
Jacob Collier – The Youngest Jazz Piano Master. Multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier may be the youngest on this list, but he’s no rookie. It’s astonishing how he masterfully merges jazz, funk, and soul with a contemporary flavor that suits the millenials.
Piano player plays the keyboard with one hand and turns the pages of sheet music with another while performing at a concert in 2010 in London.
Daniel Pan Dhone an ethnic Karen, member of the Free Burma Rangers who letft his position as a piano player in Yangon five stars hotels to join the ...
Two men, one in a cap and the other in a small brimmed felt hat, work to restrain someone in a scene from 'Tirez Sur Le Pianiste' , directed by...