[pne]

I am really trying to find a good artist/album on piano..
i've dabbled in a little bit of jazz, but honestly a lot of it sounds like noise and banging on random piano keys to me. Can anyone recommend a great sounding piano recording that is musical as well? Lyrics are not a big deal, but musicality is. I really enjoyed the music from the ray charles movie, but the cd I got of him doesnt sound very good at all.

 

[riddley]

That's a pretty broad request, but... here are a few jazz albums that (1) feature piano, (2) sound great, and (3) are easy to appreciate for a beginner but are also great albums in their own right.

Bill Evans, "Sunday at the Village Vanguard" or "Waltz for Debbie" (two parts of the same live recording - both equally amazing - get the remasters)

Keith Jarrett, "The Koln Concert"

Ray Charles, "The Best of Ray Charles" (on the Atlantic label - very different from other ray Charles recordings you might hear)

Brad Mehldau, "The Art of the Trio Vol. 3"

Oscar Peterson, "Night Train"

 

[zumaro]

Lets try more recent jazz releases that belong to this millennium! My first suggestions still owe much to Bill Evans, and also Keith Jarrett in his "Koln Concert" phase, so tend to be more lyrical and/or riff driven.

EST (Esbjörn Svensson Trio) "Strange Place For Snow" is a good place to start. EST are a Scandanavian piano led trio, but even more than Brad Mehldau (who I would also recommend - try the brand new "Day is Done"), they have a lyrical rock basis to their often riff driven tunes. Their many other albums are also usually very good and in a similar vein - the latest Viaticum is a little more pensive and subdued than usual however.

Keeping with the Scandanavians, but with a very different kind of feel, you could try Tord Gustavsen and his trio. His 2 albums so far "The Ground" and "Changing Places" are very lyrical and haunting, with tunes that imbed themselves into your subconsciousness. I slightly prefer "The Ground" but there is not a lot of difference between the two albums in actual fact.

If you want to go for much rockier in feel, then The Bad Plus is hard to pass up on. Try "Give" - if only to see what they do to the Pixies' Velouria. Guaranteed to outrage jazz purists the world over, so it must be worth a listen.

The good thing about all these artists, is that while their music may be more popular in feel than "pure" jazz, they do not necessarily sound dumbed down for mass consumption either. I think the music has plenty to entertain your mind as well as your ears.

 

[muckshot]

I really like Eric Satie's stuff, especially the Nocturnes. Moody classical solo piano that is especially nice on headphones, and even nicer when you're all alone. I have many recordings of the same pieces, but the delivery and tempo differ quite a bit - I don't think that he assigned tempos to a lot of his work... the same track can sound very sad and melancholic by one pianist, while another pianist's delivery is almost wild or angry by comparison. Anyhow, great stuff IMO.