The history of the jazz piano starts in 1899. By my count, 20 pianists changed the direction of jazz over the course of 75 years. Here are 20 sample tracks in chronological order of those pianists.

When Cal State Fullerton music professors Bill Cunliffe and Rob Watson were looking for a student to send to a piano competition in China, they both thought of freshman Mathew Yang. The 18-year-old is ...

Ahmad Jamal is often credited with creating a new spacious sound in jazz. He had a tingling sense of touch on the piano that let each note ring profoundly and famously inspired Miles Davis to explore ...

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing — all you’ve got to do is stagger your timing. For decades, fans of jazz music have debated why some songs have swing — the characteristic swaying ...

Up until Teddy Wilson’s emergence in the mid-1930s, the jazz piano was an instrument of battle. Hard-charging stride pianists such as Fats Waller, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Art Tatum, James P. Johnson and ...

In 1931, Duke Ellington and Irving Mills even dedicated a song to the phenomenon of swing which they called "It Don't Mean a Thing, If It Ain't Got That Swing". Yet, to this day, the question of what ...