A great list, though I confess I didn't know Renee. My list would have included Michel Petrucciani, one of the best ever European Jazz Pianists. The great Sax Player Charles Lloyd came out of retirement when he heard him in the 1980s. Consider yourself told 🙂
I knew Mulgrew personally, he was a member of SRF, that's how I met him. But I first saw him with Woody Shaw (the leader) at Rutgers, back in the early 80's, and Rutgers had just built a new music center, and had bought a Bosendorfer, and the classical dept would not let the jazzers use it, and the first thing Woody said when he came out on stage, was to complain about the obvious racism. Mulgrew had to play an older Steinway at that gig. Mulgrew truly was a gentleman, even when, much later, I sort of tried to get him to complain about someone else, he refused, and l (hopefully) learned a great lesson. I got tuned into SRF via the spiritual books section of the Jamey Aebersold Downbeat magazine ads back in the early 1980's. (Without Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), I would be a lost soul in my current lifetime.) The message of jazz is love, and we try to share the prettiest melodies in a world which is often deaf to them. Why else do we practice so much and try to play as melodically as we can?
Renee - probably my biggest influence. Every note a gem, her tone just gorgeous. You can really hear her speaking. Same with Eliane Elias -- check out her version of Mingus' Peggy's Blue Skylight - stunning. She was just playing before she started singing. Truly one of the best.
There are a fair few good Boomer jazz pianists in the UK. Among the better known: Roy Budd (decd.), David Newton, Steve Melling, Nikki Iles, Geoff Eales, Django Bates... I was going to add Liam Noble and Jason Rebello, but they were both born (just) post-1964.
You're missing one pianist and it upsets me. Y'all rep the 314 and you don't mention the only pianist to record with Stan Musial. And fantastic pianist but even better person. Ray Kennedy.
