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Been listening to Robert Shaw and James Booker recently.

Saw that Henry Gray, at 88, is still playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUQUPhMU5dY

Love me some Booker. Here's a confession. I actually picked one up based on aebly's recommendation on JC.

For deeper blues piano (I regret the term already) you really can't beat Otis Spann, both on the classic Muddy sides and on his own LP.

Spann's Charly release "Nobody Knows Chicago Like I do" is a favorite. I was also lucky enough to have seen Sunnyland Slim live at B.L.U.E.S. in Chicago.

Thanks for reminding me to dig more deeply into Otis Spann.

One of my favorite jazz pianists is Jaki Byard, in part because he would often use some stride technique in his playing. You can hear it after about 5min into this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhBFk54qBNk

This looks like the entire video from which that Jaki Byard piece came.

It's a live 1965 jazz piano workshop in Berlin.

Earl Hines, Teddy Wison, John Lewis, Lennie Tristano, Bill Evans and Jaki Byard. Amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ctTJPOu-Sc

Art Tatum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxadblDT6zI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib_3iZHIaqA
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Cs_zb4q14&feature=share&list=PLFF1591678A39EF49[/youtube]

UP for plenty to chew on.....

My old man is a boogie-woogie enthusiast and had a record or two featuring Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons (father of Gene "Jug" Ammons), and Meade "Lux" Lewis. Great stuff.

Those old guys could really bring it. Fats is my personal favorite, in part, because of his great little band.

About a year ago, Derek Taylor prodded me to get the George Mitchell Collection on Fat Possum. So much great music in there....highly recommended.

(edit: just realized this was a specifically piano-oriented thread...well, there;s *some* piano in there, I think...)

Bryant Park in mid-town Manhattan has a Piano in the Park lunch time series. From mid-Spring through late September they have someone playing almost every weekday. (Each pianist plays for a week from Monday-Friday)

The series started with Eubie Blake protege Terry Waldo, who is considered one of the greatest living Ragtime pianists. Here's the web site's note on Terry Waldo:

Ragtime expert & stride pianist, Terry Waldo is the protege of the late Eubie Blake. He has produced over 40 albums and written the definitive book on ragtime, This is Ragtime - republished recently by Jazz At Lincoln Center with a new introduction by Wynton Marsalis. His 26-part radio series with the same title, produced for National Public Radio, fueled the 1970's ragtime revival.
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A couple of weeks ago I caught Frank Owens in Bryant Park. Owens is one of those guys who seems to be able to do anything on piano, changing styles within a piece several times - without it seeming gimmicky. Despite his versatility, to my ears, his Stride Playing was the best part of his performance.


Frank Owens in Bryant Park

Tom Storer wrote:My old man is a boogie-woogie enthusiast and had a record or two featuring Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons (father of Gene "Jug" Ammons), and Meade "Lux" Lewis. Great stuff.

I bought this one a couple of months ago.

https://www.mosaicrecords.com/discograp ... es=3%20CDs