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Cover from album by Bud Powell.

Jazz Piano has been an integral part of the jazz idiom since its inception, in both solo and ensemble settings. The instrument is also a vital tool in the understanding of jazz theory and arranging, because of its combined melodic and harmonic nature. There are as many styles of jazz piano as there are of jazz itself.

Historically influential proponents of jazz piano include Earl Hines, James P. Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, Willie "The Lion" Smith , Art Tatum, Thomas "Fats" Waller, Mary Lou Williams and Teddy Wilson. Players following on from these include Joe Albany, Red Garland, Ahmad Jamal, Wynton Kelly, Thelonious Monk, Phineas Newborn, Jr., Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, Don Pullen, Horace Silver, Lennie Tristano and McCoy Tyner. Bill Evans was at the vanguard of a new generation of players emerging in the 1960s which included Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, John Taylor, Stan Tracey and McCoy Tyner. Today, luminaries include Django Bates, Bill Charlap, Michel Herr, Geoffrey Keezer, Dan Knight, Brad Mehldau, Mulgrew Miller, Carli Muñoz, Danilo Perez, Marc van Roon, Esbjörn Svensson, Jacky Terrasson and Jessica Williams.

The role of the piano in the context of ensemble accompaniment has gradually changed from a time-keeping role consisting of repetitive left-hand figures to a more flexible one where the pianist is free to choose to interact with the soloist using both short and sustained chordal and melodic fragments. This form of accompaniment is known as comping

The jazz pianist requires a unique set of skills. One must be able to read notes by sight, in a similar fashion to other styles, and must also be able to quickly interpret the content of chord symbols and lead sheets. Often, the pianist is doing this while recalling that information from memory. In an accompaniment setting, the pianist must balance this interpretation with choices appropriate to the musical context of the soloist and other accompanists.

The extended range of the piano as an instrument offers soloists an exhaustive number of choices. One could use the bass register to play an ostinato pattern, such as those found in boogie-woogie, or a melodic counterline emulating the walking of an upright bass. In a style known as Stride piano the left hand alternates positions rapidly playing notes in the bass register and chords in the tenor register. This is also done in more syncopated variants. The right hand will often play melodic lines, but might also play harmonic content, chordally or in octaves, sometimes in lockstep with the Left Hand using a technique called "Block Voicing."

Solo jazz piano presents a basic problem which various methods, or a combination of those methods, attempt to solve. The solutions that readily present themselves, and are often tried, are not always the most effective. The problem is essentially that the pianist has to accomplish three basic objectives:

1) Provide a clear, swinging pulse. This might be attempted by striking a beat with the right hand just after a weaker beat with the left hand. The aim of this is to imitate the combination of a ride cymbal and walking bass.

While many jazz players do this habitually, it can also be accomplished in the left hand alone, by imitating the weaker beat preparatory swing note that is played by a bass player just before he strikes some of the notes of the bassline. At faster tempos, the weaker notes may not be present in the bassline, while still being constantly played by the drummer's ride cymbal.

2) State the harmony or "guide tones" of the chord changes.

3) Play the melody or melodic solo material with the right hand.

It is challenging but possible to meet all these demands simultaneously, and in addition there can be brief intervals where they are not quite being met (Art Tatum for example did not stride as constantly as he could have). One commonly used method for solving the tripartite problem is to hold the hands together in a shape like a "fork," with the fingers nearest the thumbs joining the thumbs to form a central group, while the fourth and fifth fingers spread outward to form branches on either side. Many jazz pianists play by placing this shape on the keyboard, and using the left branch to play bass notes, the middle to attend to guide tones and the right branch for upper lines.

If this method does not prove feasible, however, it is also possible, and simpler, to elaborate the bassline, while taking over all the guide-tone and melodic tasks with the right hand alone.

• List of jazz pianists
• Jazz guitar

• The Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine: A "how to" book on the subject.
• Metaphors For The Musician by Randy Halberstadt: Insights into almost every aspect of jazz piano.
• Stylistic II/V7/I Voicings For Keyboardists by Luke Gillespie: Covers all styles of comping, from basic and fundamental approaches to modern.
• Forward Motion by Hal Galper: An approach to Jazz Phrasing.
• The Left Hand by Ricardo Scivales: A study of the history of the Left Hand in Jazz Piano

• Piano Jazz - Marian McPartland's program on National Public Radio
• Learn Jazz Piano - Scot Ranney's acclaimed site devoted to the art of jazz piano
• Jazz Piano I - Wikiversity's jazz piano learning page
• JazzKids - Willie Myette's acclaimed JazzKids program. Teaching jazz to beginning improvisors