Pianoroll

Eldar Djangirov is a young pianist originally from Kyrgystan. He lives in the United States. He is incredible. I love him so much because he is so expressive and at the same time such a virtuoso. What I like about him especially is that he knows every style so well. He knows how to make funk funky, Latin sound like Latin, etc.

Here is an amazing video of him playing Take the A Train.

Eldar has 3 CDs out: “Eldar” (2005), “Live at the Blue Note” (2006 ) and “Re-Imagination” (2007).

Taylor Eigsti is a 26-year old jazz pianist. I like him a lot not only because he is such a virtuoso, which he is, but also because of his really fancy chords and because of his very artistic solos. He usually has long solos, and I love his long lines. The tunes I like best are “Get Your Hopes Up,” “Freedom Jazz Dance,” and “Caravan.”

There are not many of his videos on Youtube, but here’s a link to his site: www.tayjazz.com. Check out  “Get Your Hopes Up,” which he plays with his trio.
Taylor Eigsti has 5 CDs out.

I saw Stefano Bollani in Tel-Aviv last year. He is an Italian jazz pianist from Milan. Although he is young, he already has a pretty big following. His quintet is called “I visionari.” I definitely recommend checking him out.
Here is one of his funniest pictures, showing him singing into the piano. (Do you know why everybody is singing into the piano these days? It’s the overtones!)

Below is a link to Caravan, which Bollani is playing here with Martial Solal. If you think it is a different tune, wait a minute… Caravan is just around the corner. I intended to post his version of the famous tune, “Azzuro,” which is available on YouTube, but the quality is not that great. Still you can check him him out on YouTubne. I like “Azzuro” best. It is so smooth…

Here is the link to Caravan.
And here is Stefano Bollani’s site.

Enjoy.

Slava Ganelin is a veteran Russian pianist. Although he’s been around for a long time, his stuff is really far out.

He uses little percussion instruments and a keyboard. I like him a lot. His stuff is interesting and sophisticated, and he does a lot of virtuoso tricks that I think are very clever. Check out this video if you’re ready for some super hardcore music (it is a short section of a long piece I filmed at a jazz festival in Jerusalem).

I heard Igor Brill, the Russian jazz pianist, in Jerusalem recently. He is considered to be one of the best jazz pianists in Russia. He plays straight jazz, and has been doing it for some time.

In Jerusalem he played with his twin sons, Dimitry and Alexander. They played lots of Mingus (but not my favorite, Fables of Faubus). Here’s a portion of a video I took at that concert. How do you like his command? And what about the quotations?

I know the picture is terrible. It was my first attempt with a video camera.