One question my students ask me from time to time is “who are some of your main musical influences?” Never made a list until now, and although incomplete, these are among the innovators and acknowledged masters who have sent me flying with their sound and story throughout decades of loving listening:
CLASSICAL COMPOSERS
- J.S. Bach
- Mozart
- Beethoven
- Chopin
- Brahms
- Ravel
- Rachmaninoff
- Prokofiev
JAZZ PIANO INNOVATORS
- Art Tatum
- Erroll Garner
- McCoy Tyner
- Dwike Mitchell
- Ahmad Jamal
- Billy Strayhorn
- Duke Ellington
- Bill Evans
- George Russell
- Oscar Peterson
- Fats Waller
- Earl Hines
- Nat “King” Cole
- George Shearing
- Monte Alexander
JAZZ ORGANISTS
- Shirley Scott
- Larry Goldings
JAZZ LEGENDS
- John Coltrane
- Miles Davis
- Dizzy Gillespie
POP and R&B ARTISTS
- Stevie Wonder
- Lennon/McCartney – The Beatles
- Joni Mitchell
- James Taylor
- Take 6
BLUES and BOOGIE WOOGIE LEGENDS
- Memphis Slim
- Otis Spann
- Albert Ammons
- Pete Johnson
- Meade Lux Lewis
BROADWAY COMPOSERS
- Richard Rodgers
- George Gershwin
- Harold Arlen
- Frank Loesser
- Irving Berlin
CLASSICAL PIANISTS – past and present
- Olga Kern
- Angela Hewitt
- Idil Biret
- Vladimir Horowitz
- Alicia de Larrocha
- Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
- Krystian Zimerman
- Ivan Moravec
- Glenn Gould
- Evgeny Kissin
JAZZ ROCK FUSION
- Tribal Tech
- Dirty Loops
- The YellowJackets
THE 21st CENTURY NEW GENERATION
- Jacob Collier
- Eddie Brown
- Quennel Gaskin
- Doobie Powell
- Cory Henry
- Bubby Fann
DRUMMERS
- Papa Ladji Camara
- Elvin Jones
- Idris Muhammad
- Tony Williams
- Bill Stewart
- Nasheet Waits