Episode 140: Jazz Piano:How to Tell One Pianist from Another.

Discovering Jazz

I was always amazed by those Blindfold Tests in Downbeat Magazine where Leonard Feather would challenge various jazz musicians by playing certain pieces of music—and have them guess who was playing. Musicians would rate the selection and talk about why. What amazed me was how they so often knew who was playing—even if they had never heard the piece before.

So this week, I’m trying to figure it out how somebody really attuned to jazz can be so good at distinguishing one player from another. Specifically, I’ve narrowed it down to pianists. I’m exploring which pianists I think I can pick out if I were given such a blindfold test.

I start the program by talking about Ahmad Jamal, and the four things that seem to characterize his playing. One recording is from 1958—and it contains all four of those stylistic elements. The other is from 2020—and while he’s changed a lot, some of what characterizes his style remains.

I also feature five other pianists—-some of whom I have a lot of familiarity, and two of them who I’m in the process of discovering.