From Scott Joplin to Ray Charles: a Look at History’s Best Black Male Pianists

The piano is one of the most important instruments in history. It was a leading figure in classical and jazz music, and its influence can still be heard today in rock and roll and R&B music. It’s soulful, it’s powerful, and it’s invigorating. Black artists have been using it to set the stage for massive musical genre changes, with these top Black male pianists paving the way for whole new sounds: 

A Look at History’s Best Black Male Pianists 

The Pioneers 

• Scott Joplin: King of the ragtime genre, which captured the nation’s spirit with its rhythms. We still hear his music today, as it’s the go-to ice cream truck song heard all around the world.  

• Art Tatum: Art Tatum was widely famous for his technical piano skills, and dominated many different genres. His talent in with the piano has been honored today with “Tatum”, which is the smallest discernible unit of music, coined by Jeff Bilmes in his MIT Master’s thesis. 

The Leaders of Swing 

• William “Count” Basie: Count Basie is known as one of the greatest bandleaders in the world, and of all time. He’s famous for big-band swing and paved the way for swing to become a predominant music style in the early 1900s. 

• Cedar Walton: Another infamous pianist, Cedar Walton was a leading figure in the hard bop movement of the 1950s, bringing the previous styles of swing into a new era. 

Souls and Blues

• Ray Charles: A pivotal figure in the evolution of soul music, Ray Charles blended jazz, gospel, and blues to create groundbreaking hits that are still influential today.

• Otis Spann: Known for his powerful and emotive style, Otis Spann was a leading blues pianist whose work defined the Chicago blues sound.

Heading Into Modern Day

• Little Richard: Little Richard’s energetic, innovative piano playing is often cited as one of the key elements that later led to the development of rock and roll.

The Power of Piano 

If you find yourself inspired or moved by those notes, then you owe it to yourself to learn piano, just as those greats that came before. You can learn piano at any time, especially thanks to the fact that electric keyboards can be picked up for very little nowadays. 

What You Need to Get Started

All you need, truly, is a keyboard, and sheet music for easy piano songs for beginners to get started. There are so many apps that can help you learn how to play piano by showing you where the keys are, and there are also music teachers you can go to for one-on-one lessons. 

For apps, you have options like: 

• Simply Piano

• Flowkey

• Skoove 

As for one-on-one lessons, those are entirely up to where you live. You can often find advertisements for options online, or by going to Google Maps to find where a class is. 

The beauty of the piano is that it takes very little to start playing, just a keyboard, some sheet music, and an app. Learning to become incredible takes time, a real piano, and countless dedication, but if you just want to learn how to play some ragtime tunes, or figure out how to play a popular hit, then you can absolutely learn at home. 

Photo Credit: DepositPhotos.com