Reagan Ray

12 Jazz Piano Albums

| Filed under: Music

This is the second post in a series on jazz albums. You can check out the previous post previous post for saxophone albums, including some thoughts on shopping for vinyl.

I've included both traditional and electronic albums on this list, with a range of 50 years between the oldest and most recent album. And since these posts are more of an entry-level introduction, I like to include a quick overview of the styles mentioned:

Swing Simple, clear melodies with a strong, danceable beat
Big Band Large ensembles with an emphasis on arrangement
Bebop/Bop Fast and complex with lots of improvisation
Hard Bop An extension of bebop with a rhythm and blues influence
West Coast/Cool Jazz A calmer, more formal response to bebop and hardbop
Post-bop Mixes elements of bop and hard bop with free jazz
Fusion Extensive use of electronic instruments and technology

As always, hit me up and let me know about your favorites or any that I might have missed.