A Piano Player’s List of Piano Players:The Artists Who Shaped My Sound

As a piano player by trade:

The question of who my influences are who I have been aware of many over the years has popped into my mind frequently.

But I’ve never sat down and made a comprehensive list.

Until now.

This is not a list of who I think are the greatest piano players in modern music history.

It’s a list of the players that have inspired me and/or had an effect on my playing over the years. You will see representatives from pop, rock and jazz on this list, as I love all of it, and multiple genres figure into my playing style. Let’s take a look, shall we?

Elton John

Anyone under the age of 70 that plays rock piano is going to have a difficult time not having Elton as an influence, whether they realize it or not.

I’m no exception. His playing is ubiquitous. Describing it at this point is like describing ice cream. It’s unnecessary. Elton, particularly 70s Elton, totally commanded the instrument, which in turn commanded the room, whether it was a ballad, an up-tempo rocker, or anything in between.

Just two of my favorite examples of him really cutting loose:

“Grey Seal”, where the piano is just cruising along at a blistering pace, as if it’s nothing
And “Honky Cat”, where he takes New Orleans funk out behind the shed and gives it a thrashing. What he’s doing toward the end of the song is just sick.

Billy Joel

I was 12 when my brother Greg brought home The Stranger and those songs just spoke to me.

His playing style mirrored his voice and lyrics, with such a unique, personal sense of character and delivery that always stood out from the rest. Subsequent albums 52^nd Street and Glass Houses equally captivated me, particularly the latter.

Two standout Joel tracks for me:

“Always a Woman:” The gentle rolling piano lines ebb and flow so expressively that the vocal line just floats over the top like a boat on the water.
“Prelude/Angry Young Man:” Live version from A Matter of Trust- The Bridge to Russia

That fast hammering he does where he’s alternating on the same note with two hands blew me away. Having never seen him live, it shined a light on his technical skills at a whole new level.

Ben Folds

He’s the best rock/pop piano player I’ve ever heard.

Don’t try to argue with me. But what about… Just stop. Nobody beats him. I even wrote a song about it, so it must be true.

Sure, he himself has his influences, but whatever anyone did before him, he took it and did it better. As you see here today, many piano players have inspired me in my lifetime. He did just the opposite. The more I listened to him, the more I felt like I should just give up and never touch a piano again.

In all seriousness, it really does scare me that someone can be that good, but his no holds barred approach to playing and live performances have inspired me to let go of all fear and perceived limitations and just go for it. I’ll never be as good as him, but I’m in good company.

Ramsey Lewis

The very idea of rock-infused jazz may infuriate some, but it was always perfect for me because I love both genres immensely.

My parents had several Ramsey albums growing up and those records spoke to me. His jazz voicings and blues-based soloing over what was essentially a rock back beat on “The ‘In’ Crowd” and others like it has had more of an effect on my playing over the years than almost anyone else out there.

“Blue Bongo” the first track on Goin’ Latin mesmerized me as a young adult to the point where I wrote a “Holy Holy” (a Catholic liturgical piece) based on the percussion groove. It was practically impossible for a congregation to sing, so it was only played live one time.

Roy Bittan

When Bruce Springsteen is at his most epic, a big part of that sound is undeniably Roy Bittan’s trademark grand, sweeping octave piano lines:

Usually in the higher register, with thick, lush chords in between. Sometimes doubled with a glockenspiel, organ, or other instruments, they take an already impassioned tour de force and raise the stakes every time.

This is something I incorporate frequently in my playing, and it always takes me to the next level emotionally. I know I got it from Roy. He can play many different styles, but when he is in this particular zone, it hits deep.

Key tracks:

“Out In the Street”
“Badlands”
“Candy’s Room”
“Prove It all Night”
“Backstreets”,
“She’s the One”
“Word on a Wing”- David Bowie (from Station to Station).

Vince Guaraldi

As little kids, jazz invaded our lives in the form of Vince Guaraldi’s ever-present soundtracks to the Peanuts tv specials, particularly A Charlie Brown Christmas.

It was his top-40 hit instrumental “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” that landed him the gig. What he does at the beginning of that song, with the left hand playing the repetitive pattern that works as a pedal tone, and the chords floating over the top, is something I am drawn to do all the time, in my playing and in my writing.

Guaraldi’s overall influence on me is inescapable, and I am happy to be held captive.

Some of my other favorites:

“Christmas Time Is Here”
“Skating”
“Thanksgiving Theme”
“The Great Pumpkin Waltz”
And of course: “Linus and Lucy”

Neal Doughty

When REO Speedwagon let Neal Doughty out of his cage on the piano, man, could he cook.

He was one of the first piano players I noticed that wasn’t fronting a band. “Roll With the Changes” is the first song to come to mind. His solos on “Say You Love Me or Say Goodnight” and “The Unidentified Flying Tuna Trot” off the same album are pure fire. And if you haven’t heard it, the original studio recording of “157 Riverside Avenue” is a choice Doughty cut for blues piano that just rips.

Carole King

Carole King’s piano skills are not the first thing most people probably think of when her name comes up, but they are an inherent part of her compositions.

Being that she is one of the greatest songwriters in pop history, that matters. Growing up, Tapestry, true to its name, was woven into the fabric of my musical awakening. The piano part on “I Feel the Earth Move” excited me as a child, and still does.

Christine McVie

She was always locked in with the rhythm section of any band she was in, and like Carole King, her keyboard skills are key to her compositions.

Christine’s rock solid, groove-oriented playing with Fleetwood Mac certainly fueled many of her big hits. She was for sure an influence on me as a Mac loving 12-year-old, and to this day. Her piano/keyboard parts on such hits as “Say You Love Me”, “Don’t Stop” and “You Make Loving Fun” are understated master classes in how to provide the basis for an irresistibly catchy pop song.

And the piano on “Songbird”? Gorgeous.

Rod Argent

I talked about the Zombies and Rod to great extent in a previous article.

In the British Invasion era, the Zombies stood out as one of the only bands that was driven by the keyboards. Rod Argent was an incredible player that incorporated progressive jazz into his solos. His virtuosity at the instrument was unusual for the time. It’s a vital part of why their music always stood out from the pack, and drew me in almost involuntarily.

Dave Brubeck

An early jazz influence of mine, and one of the main artists that really got me deeper into jazz piano post-college.

I particularly have been inspired by his pieces in the odd-numbered meters. Such as:

3: (“It’s a Raggy Waltz”, “Theme from Mr Broadway”)
5: (“Take Five”, “Far More Blue”)
7: (“Unsquare Dance”), 9 (“Blue Rondo à la Turk”
And 11 (“Eleven Four”).

He’s definitely in there somewhere whenever I’m playing jazz or thinking outside the box in my composing and arranging.

Toni Tennille

I was around 11 years old when Captain and Tennille briefly took over the pop landscape.

My friends and I formed a lip-sync band and performed their songs for family members and each other. We even built a crude, wooden facsimile of the Captain’s double decker keyboards, for me to fake play. What was ironic about this is that I could actually play the piano, and the musician I should have been emulating was Tennille.

Sure, Captain covered the keyboards, guitar, and bass, but it was her rhythmic, in the pocket piano playing that punched through the mix and was the foundation of so many songs, such as their hit cover of “Shop Around”. Occasionally, she got to throw in some bluesy licks and let her hair down on a song like “Feel Like a Man”.

Her vibrant style was a fine lesson for young me on how to anchor a song, and have a blast doing it.

McCoy Tyner

McCoy was part of a rarified group of musicians that smashed down the walls of what jazz could sound like.

I will never even come close to playing like him and I can’t comprehend probably 95% of what informed his playing that made it sound like it did. Still, in listening to him play on records like Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme”, I learned that there is no limit to where music can take you, and that there are no wrong notes if one possesses the hearing and understanding of what makes them right.

Start with “My Favorite Things,” and go from there.

Jerry Lee Lewis

Throughout almost the entire decade of the 90s, I had one piano student. Joe.

In addition to classical music, he wanted to learn other more improvisational styles, so I taught him the blues scale. I told him if he used that scale and also played lots of major-minor 7^th chords really fast and really high, the sky was the limit. Sure enough, a guitarist at his school heard him playing and immediately recruited him for his band. Joe still plays professionally today.

That high and fast stuff is a standard go-to of mine when I’m rocking out, and Jerry Lee Lewis is ground zero for that, no question, particularly on his biggest hit “Great Balls of Fire”. He was an absolute animal on the 88s, and out-rocked pretty much everybody. He didn’t invent rock and roll piano, but he is synonymous with it.

Also see:

“Wild One”
“High School Confidential”

Sergio Mendes

Brasil ’66 was a staple of the easy listening stations playing constantly in our house.

To us kids, it was firmly Dad’s music, and not what we would have chosen to hear. But those pop bossa nova songs with the driving piano seeped into my musical sensibilities and have stayed there for life.

A strong influence, whether I wanted it or not. But believe me, I decided a long time ago that I wanted it.

Examples:

“Mas Que Nada”
“With a Little Help From My Friends”
“Night and Day”
“Constant Rain”

Floyd Cramer

As a session player, Floyd Cramer’s bent-note method of playing permeated the pop and country records coming out of Nashville in the 50s and 60s. It became such a common approach that countless players were influenced by him and may not have even known who he was. For years, that was me, until someone told me I sounded like him and I figured it out.

Vanessa Carlton

Her piano style was more ornate and dramatic than her contemporaries and those who followed, and it dominated her compositions. Known mostly for one big hit, “A Thousand Miles”, she stayed true to her vision on her follow up album and apparently the public had had enough. She never returned to the success of her debut, but I loved that second album. The passion in her playing and vocals, combined with her chord structures and melodies just really got to me. Songs like “White Houses”, “For Annie” and “San Francisco” still really hit me where I live. It was a lesson for me in the value of finding your unique voice and staying true to your vision. It doesn’t always pay off commercially, but there is no price you can put on knowing who you are and bringing to life the art that is inside you.

Bruce Hornsby

As the 80s progressed, and styles changed, the piano was not having a moment in pop music. It mostly tended to just blend into the woodwork if it wasn’t altogether missing in action. One exception was Bruce Hornsby. His playing on “The Way It Is” just sparkled and was not like anything I had heard on the radio before. His jazz-tinged chord progressions and soloing predated the kind of sounds that would soon dominate the smooth jazz format. Other songs where his playing stood out to me- “The End of the Innocence”, “Mandolin Rain”, and Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me”.

Thelonious Monk

As a jazz piano player, Monk is an odd one. He always just did his own thing. He makes unconventional decisions with his left hand, often not comping the chords like most players, but just playing single lines or patterns, leaving the harmonic progression vague and wide open. Sometimes when a horn player is taking a solo, he disappears altogether. As a soloist, he can tend to meander, plunking out notes here and there with long pauses in between, throwing in scattershot runs when it suits him. To the outside ear, it may sound as if he’s playing his own song wrong, or just lost, but he never seemed too concerned about what anyone else was hearing.

The glue that holds everything together is his sublime compositions, with their expressively chromatic progressions and melodies, and rhythmic phrasing that sometimes feels off, but lands right where it needs to be. Jazz would not be the same without him. No one writes like him. He strips it down to the raw materials, to the heart and soul of what jazz is, sometimes more progressive sounding, sometimes with an old-timey feel, sometimes both at the same time. He can’t and won’t be duplicated, and that’s a good thing. We only needed one, and thank God, we got him.

Key tracks: