This feature comes from KNKX's show Tree of Jazz, taking you through the eras, from the roots to the new budding leaves, with a weekly deep dive into iconic artists, albums, and instruments.
The singer-pianist is a timeless combination in popular music. Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel and Alicia Keys have all become household names for their electrifying singing and powerful piano playing.
Looking back at the decades before them, many more landmark artists adapted this musical archetype to their style and era. Here are three groundbreaking jazz musicians who found success as pianist-vocalists.
Fats Waller
Fats Waller described jazz and swing music as a "just a musical phase of our social life," and that’s the energy that comes through in his piano playing and singing.
In the 1910s, Waller was in his teens as the Harlem Renaissance began. During that time, he accompanied vaudeville acts, played rent parties and absorbed the stride piano techniques of his mentor James P. Johnson.
Waller’s piano was sweet and dazzlingly technical with dancing chords and sparkling flourishes. His singing was also lively and animated, whether he sang heartwarming love songs or innuendo-drenched tunes. Between verses, he acted as his own emcee, providing commentary on the songs subject, all while holding the song together on the piano.
The combination of impeccable stride piano, singing and showmanship took Waller to great heights. He wrote revues, performed on the silver screen and national radio broadcasts, and also went on extensive tours that brought his joyful soundtrack to everyone.
Ray Charles
The “Genius of Soul” Ray Charles is another larger-than-life star that accompanied himself from the piano bench. As he rocked side to side as he performed, it was as if the energy of the music physically flowed through him.
Charles was going blind by the age of 5, so he learned music mostly by ear and with braille. In the 1940s, he travelled coast to coast soaking in the styles of music that would make up the gumbo of his own sound. In 1948, he landed in Seattle where the thriving jazz scene along Jackson Street became the ideal place for Charles to lay the seeds of a legendary career.
By the 1960s, Charles had achieved superstar status with “What I’d Say,” which sold a million records, and his version of “Georgia on My Mind” hit number one on the pop charts. He went on to record more than 50 albums, and there are also plenty of instrumental recordings of him, including Soul Meetings with jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson.
Charles effortlessly fused the blues, jazz, gospel and rock without compromising or losing the authentic elements of each. The gospel influenced his call and response style of arranging songs, and he lead a successful big band during the 1960s, at a time when large ensembles had fallen out of favor.
Nina Simone
Nina Simone also captivated audiences with her powerful voice, enhanced by her piano playing. Simone sang everything from standards to celebrations of Blackness to pointed critiques of racism, but she originally wanted to be a concert pianist.
Simone was a gifted piano player from a young age. She studied European classical music and studied music at The Julliard School. After a rejection from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, she needed to make some money and took a gig in Atlantic City, New Jersey that required her to sing while playing the piano. Her awe-inspiring piano technique and intimate singing was a hit right away and just a few years later she recorded her debut album Little Girl Blue.
Simone’s singing and piano playing can be strikingly tender and at other times ferocious. Her heartbreaking version of “I loves you Porgy,” driving rendition of “Sinnerman,” and spectacular swing on the jazz standard “Good Bait,” capture her technical versatility and emotional range as a pianist-vocalist.
While these three artists came from different eras and developed distinct styles, each combine a captivating stage presence with virtuosic piano playing and powerful singing. The exceptional ability to do it all at once is a defining part of what makes them great.
Listen to the past two weeks of Tree of Jazz On-Demand and hear deep dives like this each week on the Tree of Jazz, on air and online every Sunday from 3-6 p.m. PT.
