While the jazz piano originally developed independently of the earliest jazz groups (I have yet to see a piano utilized in a marching brass band), and it has a rich legacy in American music that predated jazz, it has of course been a major part of jazz since close to its beginnings. During the past century, there have been a countless number of great jazz pianists and solo piano records. This article focuses on ten of the very best classic jazz and swing pianists of the early days, each of whom are represented by one CD (or, in one case, a double CD) apiece, with the music being recorded before 1945.
Not included in this survey are the masterful boogie-woogie pianists (Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, and Meade Lux Lewis), Duke Ellington (who recorded only a handful of solo piano recordings before the mid-1940s), and such brilliant players as Jess Stacy, Cliff Jackson, Herman Chittison, and a half-dozen others. This article and the recommended CDs can serve as an introduction to these ten brilliant players.
1) Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941) – While he was often ridiculed for claiming that he invented jazz, it is true that jazz as we know it to a large extent began with Jelly Roll Morton since his predecessors did not have opportunities to record. A pioneering composer and arranger whose influence on future developments tends to be underrated, Morton was also the first major jazz piano
