good jazz piano

Eddie Higgins has at least one well recorded disc (I have it but the name escapes me and my CDs are all out of order at the moment), great playing on this.
also try Dick Hyman's playing on reference recordings, awesome sound there!

I am glad to see Marian Mc Partland and Dick Hyman given their "props" in this thread.

Try:
Marian Mc Partland's "Reprise"- excellent sound, beautiful playing. Also
"Live at Yoshi's"

Also you can try a number of her Piano Jazz CD's, which are recordings of her NPR radio show. I particularly like the one with bassist Milt Hinton and the one with Dave Brubeck.

Dick Hyman on Reference Recordings:
"From the Age of Swing"
"Recital"
"Plays Duke Ellington"
"Plays Fats Waller"
"Swing is Here"

(I ordered the Dick Hyman recordings from best to worst, IMO. However, all or excellent and worth owning.)


Cyrus Chestnut:

"Blessed Quietness"

For piano playing, but not for singing:

Diana Krall, "Stepping Out"

This is an excellent recording, also. Very dynamic.

If this category can be extended to blues:

Jay Mc Shann's Hybrid SACD "What a Wonderful World". This is dynamic, excellent musicianship all around. Again, he is not a great singer.

Dave Brubeck has a double hybrid SACD of two live performances done, I believe, for his 80th birthday called "From the USA and the UK". There is some excellent jazz improvisation on here. I absolutely hate the alto sax work on these recordings, though. Paul Desmond, where are you when we need you?

Here are some good-sounding piano jazz titles. Note that these are not always the best performances from these artists, but all have what I consider to be good or better sound quality and content. Recordings marked with a * are my personal favorites.

Tommy Flanagan
-Nights at the Vanguard
-Lady Be Good*
-Confirmation
-Moodsville*

Andre Previn
-My Fair Lady (w/Shelly Manne)
-Gigi
-Like Previn
-Plays Songs of Jerome Kern
-Plays Songs of Harold Arlen
-Plays Songs of Vernon Duke

Phineas Newborn
-Here is Phineas

Pamela York
-Blue York

Toshiko Akiyoshi
-Remembering Bud

Kenny Barron
-The Moment*
-The Only One
-Green Chinmeys

Duke Jordan
-Fight To Jordan*
-Flight To Denmark

Hank Jones
-Upon Reflection*

Kenny Drew
-Pal Joey

John Lewis
-The Bridge Game

Ellis Marsalis
-Heart of Gold
-Ellis Marsalis Trio

Red Garland
-Groovy
-All Kinds of Weather
-Red Garland's Piano*

Hampton Hawes
-Trio, Volume 1
-All Night Session Volumes 1, 2, 3

Benny Green
-These Are Soulful Days

Lynne Arriale
-Melody

Wynton Kelly
-Piano
-Full View

Eric Reed
-Manhattan Melodies

Barry Harris
-At The Jazz Workshop

Ramsey Lewis
-Appassionata

Richard Wyands
-Half and Half
-Reunited

George Shearing
-Walkin'
-Grand Piano
-More Grand Piano
-Piano
-Jazz Moments

Jessica Williams
-Higher Standards
-Arrival
-Some Ballads, Some Blues
-Momentum

Jazz label "Reservoir Music" has a fantastic series of recordings they call the "New York Piano" series. Rudy Van Gelder is the recording engineer for most of the sessions. The artists are generally unknown outside the NYC area, but both performances and sound quality are superb on each of the dozen or so titles I have purchased by pianists Hod O'Brien, Steve Kuhn, Rob Schneiderman, Pete Malinverni, and Dick Katz.

A modern recording with excellent sound and music equal to any contemporary performer is Cyrus Chestnut on Atlantic. HDCD encoded to boot! An all around superb disc that belongs in any jazz fan's collection.

Brad Mehldau

Marcin Wasilewski

Bobo Stenson - Cantando is a spooky good recording. 

Julia Hulsmann

Esbjorn Svensson