The Great Jazz Pianists: Speaking of Their Lives and Music, Paperback

This comprehensive survey of jazz piano, beginning with a brief history of the instrument within the jazz tradition and concluding with interviews that present twenty-seven pianists in their own words, is both wonderfully anecdotal and a serious piece of jazz history. Lyons has assembled a giant concert of piano voices--Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Teddy Wilson, Oscar Peterson, Keith Jarrett, Randy Weston, Cecil Taylor, Horace Silver, Dave Brubeck, Sun Ra, McCoy Tyner, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Chick Corea, and many others. The pianists are candid, intense, and always opinionated. Yet their responses are infused with a keen appreciation for fellow musicians, their contemporaries, and those who came before--Walter, Tatum, Ellington. For pianists everywhere, whatever their individual style, this book will speak to and for you as it expresses the thoughts of its many great artists.

Len Lyons is the author of The 101 Best Jazz Albums, a listener's guide to jazz on records. He has produced records, written liner notes, and contributed articles to Downbeat, Musician, Keyboard, and other magazines. A pianist himself, he studied with Lennie Tristano. He lives in Berkeley, California.