Non classical piano based music recommendaiton

The latest artist I've hear that fits your criteria is Taylor Eigsti (sp?). Quite a young man but very accomplished pianist. His sidemen, bass and drums, are also very good.

I agree with Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett rec's - they'd be at the top of my list (though Jarret's grunting sometimes gets on my nerves). I like Keith Jarrett - "Standards" (there's no grunting :-) ).

Others that I have and like are:

Chick Corea - note that he has some acoustic stuff and a lot of electric fusion stuff, so it depends on what you really want. For Acoustic check out Chick Corea/Gary Burton - "In Concert: Zurich Oct, 1979", and Chick Corea/Dave Holland/Barry Altschul - "A.R.C."

Don Shirley - "Solos" and "With 2 Basses" I like them though I don't know if this is his best stuff

David Chesky - "The Tangos and Dances" I really, really like it. Just one note - it's very mellow and I often fall asleep during it. In fact when I want a nap, this is one of the cd's I put on. (I know this is hardly an endorsement, but trust me it's worth having)

Also mellow - Tord Gustavsen Trio - "The Ground" and "Changing Places"

for something with vocals - how about Tori Amos? and Diana Krall?

Alan Hovhaness has a solo disc of shorter piano compositions called "Shalimar". I think it's sublime. It's not jazz or pop, so I suppose you might call it classical but it's not what most people think of as classical.

"Shalimar" at Amazon

You can break out your grandmother's Liberace records :-)

not the usual suspects.....elton john 11-7-70 (a trio performance that still holds up incredibly and is a good reminder of what all the fuss was about).......the great jazz trio-live at the village(their first was still their best, and hank jones covers monk and more, with tony williams flailing like he's auditioning for deep purple or zepplin....a microphone placed in the bass drum will tax small monitor speakers beyond their limits, but the performances are magic.)........jeff beck group-beck-ola (nicky hopkins' took this reord in a jam band direction, and he plays like he's fighting beck for control...wow).....more nicky on quicksilver-shady grove (holy moly).........bill evans, and the rest are always manditory anyway.