Jazz Piano?

Early Jazz: Jelly Roll Morton,James P. Johnson
Swing: Duke Ellington,Count Basie,**ART TATUM**
Bop: Bud Powell
Hard Bop:McCoy Tyner
Modern: Oscar Peterson,Bill Evans,Horace Silver,Herbie Hancock

Mark Gridley's one volume jazz text is a good read and a good introduction to jazz.

Many of these recommendations are fairly hard core jazz piano, and may not be as accessible to a rock fan. Don't want to scare you off right away. Jamie Cullum is nice jazz piano without going over the top. I would suggest a few others that are a bit more accessible and less hard core, like:

David Benoit
Diana Krall
Claude Bolling

Then move up a notch to:

Vince Guaraldi
Michael Petruicianni (may have spelled it wrong)
Bill Evans
Dave Brubeck
Jackie Terrasson
Marian McPartland

Then you can try harder stuff by:

Herbie Hancock
Kieth Jarrett
McCoy Tyner
Chic Corea
Oscar Peterson

Enjoy,
Bob

I agree with the suggestions above and would add **KEITH JARRETT** to the list. He's often overlooked but in my opinion, he's one of the all time best jazz pianists. His Koln Concert album brought me to jazz over 30 years ago. Another favorite is Bill Evans. And of course Oscar Peterson...

Try going to www.accuradio.com, click on the "Jazz" tab, then choose "Piano Jazz". It's a great way to hear streaming jazz and decide on an artist/s that you may like. They have direct links to Amazon to purchase the CD. While there you can also check out other Jazz versions of Jazz. Good luck.

One of my favorites is Gene Harris, with the Three Sounds or his trio. You just can't go wrong with Gene Harris.