The Lineage of Modern Jazz Piano: A view from Richie Beirach taken from conversations with Michael Lake

Jazz is a relatively new art form. It's melodic and harmonic language has evolved throughout the past 100 years from one great innovator passing on his discoveries to the next as a kind of artistic baton. Each successive player building on the previous.The piano has always lead the harmonic language of jazz, so in order to truly understand the evolution of this music, one must understand the lineage of the music's greatest piano players. In this book, Richie Beirach provides his incisive and at times inside knowledge of these 10 great piano players who defined the language of jazz. Part history, part technical exploration, and part candid observations you won't find anywhere else, The Lineage of Modern Jazz Piano is a concise overview of the ten men who through their talent and courage, defined jazz. For each, Richie identifies three essential albums that best reflect the greatness in these artists.As a bonus, the last section of the book provides a historic and technical analysis of Bill Evans' improvised introductions to the tune Nardis. These improvisations which were influenced by 20th Century classical harmony were a departure from Bill's usual approach to Nardis and to his playing overall. Last, Richie offers his candid opinion on who actually wrote Nardis. Was is truly Miles?