The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time: Ranking, Analysis & Photos (Book) [Hardcover]

Gene Rizzo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005 | Series: Book

Handy resource for jazz listeners and hardcore fans.



Spanning players from eighty years of history, this bold book steps forward and claims who are the greatest. Compiled from an extensive survey conducted with the best jazz minds in the ed

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard; Hardcover edition (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0634074164
• ISBN-13: 978-0634074165
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #423,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Awful... but nice photos, July 13, 2005

By 

drpangloss "drpangloss" (chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time: Ranking, Analysis & Photos (Book) (Hardcover)

Ranking musicians/artists is wrongheaded but some of these picks are just beyond the pale. He ranks the number 1-4 top jazz pianists of all time as Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Bud Powell and Art Tatum. Reasonable picks. So who's number 5? Gotta be along the lines of Chick, Herbie, Keith, McCoy, Cecil, Fatha Hines, Teddy Wilson, Fats, or Jelly Roll, right? Get this- Monty Alexander! and who's number 6? Benny Green! I was in disbelief. As you wade through the rest of the picks you realize that the closer a pianist comes to duplicating Oscar's style the higher he is rated (Gene Harris rates 12 if I recall). Now I have plenty of Monty Alexander and Benny Green recordings and enjoy their playing, but they are hardly the sort of original pianists that would merit their rubbing shoulders with these giants. This book may familarize the jazz piano enthusiast with some players they didn't previously know but a better book in that regard would be Robert Doershuk's "88: The Giants of Jazz Piano." Doerschuk's book features more pianists, is more informative and comes with a CD. I will say that Rizzo's book has some nice photos.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Provocative if presumptuous, October 2, 2005

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time: Ranking, Analysis & Photos (Book) (Hardcover)

Books like this are always good conversation starters. And of course the only palatable title--"My Fifty Favorite"--probably wouldn't sell any books let alone spark any conversations.

There's nothing wrong with the first 4 on the list--except with their order. If Rizzo's main criterion is keyboard command and forceful swing, then Oscar's lofty place can remain unchallenged. But if his aesthetic includes a depth and complexity of expression equal to the greatest composers--Bartok, Debussy, Shostakovich--Bill Evans belongs on top. If harmonic legerdemain deserves extra weight, put Art at the pinnacle; or for complex melodic-rhythmic lines on the level of Bird, give the nod to Bud.

After the number 4 position, Rizzo merely exposes the problems of a ranking like this, let alone the gaps in his (or any individual listener's) knowledge and listening experience. Monty Alexander belongs on the list--but in the number 5 position? (I have a hunch he'd be personally embarassed to find himself 19 places above Nat Cole.) And Benny Green and Andre Previn at 5 and 6? Or for that matter Erroll Garner in a lowly 25 slot? Worse, the seminal Earl Hines all the way down in 39? (More understandable if the author's exposure to the father of jazz piano is limited to post '75 recordings.) At least he gets Billy Taylor right.

The author plays it safe by pulling out a couple of comparative obscurities--Tete Montoliu and Derek Smith. But anyone can play that game. I would insist that any short list ought to include Carl Perkins. As for the "honorable mentions," where's Dave Catney? There's a list of women pianists, but where are Pat Moran, Ellyn Rucker, and Alice McCleod (Coltrane)? (At least Terry Pollard gets a mention.)

The bios tend to be general and aimed at the uninitiated. There are no attempts to "justify" the ranking of each pianist or to provide disclosure of the contributors to those rankings. Overall, a handsome coffee-table book. Buy it to test the rankings against your own. But first sprinkle some salt on the title.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Please, June 23, 2006

By 

David Cagle (Towson, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time: Ranking, Analysis & Photos (Book) (Hardcover)

An enterprise such as this one is a little bit goofy to start with, but people (including me) like lists. Part of the fun of lists is arguing about them, and I believe many list writers stimulate discussion -- and hopefully sales -- by including provocative entries. That's all fine and good, but this book goes way beyond that into the land of the dumb and ridiculous. Anyone who places Monty Alexander at number 5 on the list has some pretty fancy explaining to do, but here the explanation is seriously inadequate, both in terms of the criteria used to compile the list, and how each pianist fits the criteria. I like Benny Green a lot, but he has no business near the top of the list. Placing Andre Previn at number 7, far ahead of Fats Waller, Erroll Garner and Earl Hines, among many others, is nothing short of bizarre. It completely undermines the author's credibility, even if he knows more than most of us about jazz piano. It is not nitpicky stuff.
In the IMHO category, what about Ralph Sutton? Chucho Valdes? And if you're going to pull out all these relatively obscure names, why not make room for, say, Dick Wellstood or Michel Petrucciani?