Favorite Jazz Keyboardists Poll

It's poll time again, people!

Who are your personal top ten favorite jazz keyboardists?

Mine, as of today, are:

01) Sun Ra (Saturn/Alabama, 1914-1993) 02) Cecil Taylor (New York, 1929-present) 03) Ray Manzarek (Illinois, 1939-present) 04) Don Preston (Michigan, 1932-present) 05) Herbie Hancock (Illinois, 1940-present) 06) Thelonious Monk (North Carolina, 1917-1982) 07) George Russell (Ohio, 1923-present) 08) Alice Coltrane (Michigan, 1937-present) 09) George Duke (California, 1946-present) 10) Chick Corea (Massachusetts, 1941-present)

Jeez... Jelly-Roll Morton and Art Tatum don't even get an honorable mention?

I see this is cross-posted to r.m.m.synth

Ray Manzerek? What does he have to do with jazz? I think he should be disqualified from any musician lists purely on the basis of his soporiphic solo on Light My Fire. Yawn.

Anyway, here's my top 15 in no particular order. I couldn't do just 10.

Ahmed Jamal Abdullah Ibrahim Bill Evans Keith Jarrett Brad Mehldau Wynton Kelly Lennie Tristano Tommy Flanagan Phineas Newborn Kenny Barron Gonzalo Rubalcaba Herbie Hancock Fred Hersch Hank Jones Hampton Hawes

K

My thought, exactly. LOL

Of course, it always changes on a daily basis, but

Bill Evans Herbie Vince Guaraldi Oscar Peterson Larry Goldings Michel Pettrucciani Me (my favorite style; terrible execution - no puns please) Everyone else

In addition to Sun Ra, several others on my list (Chick Corea, Don Preston, George Duke, Herbie Hancock, and Ray Manzarek) all use synthesizers extensively. And George Russell, while primarily known for his piano work, recorded some of the early electronic albums in the 1960s.

I'm sure of that, but still my main jazz professor during my undergraduate days insisted that there are only two elements that define any subgenre as jazz: improvisation and syncopation.

I've had problems in the past with some extremely aggressive flaming trolls over there, but based on your suggestion, I just reposted the survey there in its own new thread. We'll see what develops.

None of the above. Please do not reduce us to polls. what low brow diminsihment of the art.

Not only did all of The Doors have strong jazz roots while in the original group, but both Manzarek and Krieger have recorded several jazz dominated solo albums.

To each, his or her own. I happen to love that hypnotic psychedelic organ solo and the great guitar solo that comes up out of it.

Lots of jazz pianists have been noted for their synthesizer playing, and few of the most noted are in Todd's list. For example, what about Paul Bley? The American Physical Society claims that Bley made the first public synthesizer performance at Lincoln Center in New York City on Dec 26, 1969.

K

How do posting lists of favorites diminish anyone? Your admonition sounds elitist to me.