Pianists and Keyboard Players

Each player in this trio addresses the beat in a spontaneous way, without constant chaos. A casual romp like this session makes for breezy listening.

Williams was a dazzling player and a favorite at Fresh Air. She died March 10 at 73. We'll listen back to her 1997 performance and interview.

Much of the music on Cray's new album stems from a year he spent teaching at the University of Nevada in Reno. Critic Kevin Whitehead says Outside In is a reminder of the power of open spaces.

Seymour: An Introduction is an inspiring new documentary by the actor Ethan Hawke. It's about Seymour Bernstein, who quit a successful concert career at the age of 50 to become a piano teacher.

Jazz pianist, bandleader and composer Horace Silver died Wednesday at age 85. Fresh Air critic Kevin Whitehead says that Silver had been off the scene awhile, but his influence is as strong as ever. Hear an appreciation.

Famed jazz pianist Horace Silver died yesterday. He spoke with Terry Gross in 1984.

On Feb. 5, 1953, Powell was uncommunicative face to face at the New York jazz club Birdland. But when he sat at the keys, it was a whole other story.

With a career derailed due to severe hand problems, Amadie found a way to play the music he loved.

In the 1970s and '80s, Cables was the pianist of choice for saxophonists Dexter Gordon and Art Pepper; Pepper called him his favorite pianist. Critic Kevin Whitehead says Cables' new trio album, My Muse, is so unassumingly good, you could miss just how good it is.

The pianist, a member of one of the most remarkable families in jazz history, died Sunday. He was 91. Fresh Air remembers the jazz legend with highlights from an interview conducted in 2005.

Music critic Milo Miles reviews two new albums: Booker T. Jones's Potato Hole, and Allen Toussaint's The Bright Mississippi.

Fresh Air's classical music critic reviews an 80-disc set of recordings by Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. The collection, issued 25 years after Gould's death replicates the look of the original LPs.

The legendary jazzman turns 87 on July 31, 2005. He and his trio have just released a new CD, For My Father, and he joins John Patitucci and Jack De Johnette for the Great Jazz Trio's upcoming CD, S'Wonderful.

Legendary blues and rock pianist Johnnie Johnson died Wednesday in St. Louis. He was 80 years old. For more than 20 years, Johnson was Chuck Berry's pianist. He played on all of Berry's greatest hits, and he gained rock-and-roll immortality when Berry wrote the song "Johnny B. Goode" about him. (Originally aired July 31, 1991)

The 78-year-old singer is currently performing at Birdland in New York City. Previously, Carroll spent 25 years playing at Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle Hotel. This year, she received three lifetime achievement awards; one of them was the Kennedy Center's Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award. Carroll has a number of albums to her credit; her latest is the new solo album Morning in May.

It's not not surprising that Rufus Wainwright would become a musician and singer. He is the son of singer-songwriters Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle (of the McGarrigle sisters). He has just released his second album, Poses.

Critics call Bill Charlap one of the strongest mainstream jazz pianists on the scene and one of the most gifted interpreters of standards. He has worked with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, Benny Carter, Clark Terry and the Phil Woods Quintet where he remains. His most recent album, Written in the Stars (Blue Note) was released in 2000.

Pianist Andrew Rangell has emerged as one of America's best interpreters of the works of Beethoven and Bach. His newest CD is "Andrew Rangell: A Recital of Intimate Works" (Dorian) It includes six Beethoven works, a work of Bach and others.

The singer and pianist has a new CD titled "Sing It" on Rounder Records. It features her with Tracey Nelson and Irma Thomas. She has been compared with Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Leon Russell, and, Jerry Lee Lewis. She's been called the bayou queen of the piano. Her latest solo album came out last year on Rounder. "Let Me Play With Your Poodle." The concert was recorded in September in Austin, Texas as a benefit for the public radio station KUT.