Meine persönliche ultimative Solo-Piano-Einspielung stammt von Art Tatum, der als pianistisches Weltwunder bezeichnet wurde, und zwar jene Aufnahmen, die zwischen 1953 und 55 entstanden und auf 13 LPs mit dem Titel "The Tatum Solo Masterpieces" veröffentlicht wurden (Pablo). Am nähesten heran in bezug auf musikalische und instrumentelle Virtuosität kommen Solo-Aufnahmen von Martial Solal (z.B.: "Nothing but Piano", 1975, "The Solosolal", 1979, oder die Box "Live – 1959/85"). In unmittelbarer Nachbarschaft von Tatum in meinem Plattenregal stehen mehrere Solo-Einspielungen von Cecil Taylor, auch einem absoluten Neuerer des Klavierspiels. Hier zu empfehlen wäre die 11 CD-Box "In Berlin “88" (FMP, inklusive sehr feines Booklet), wo neben vielen Duos & Ensemble-Projekten auch eine bemerkenswerte Solo-Aufnahme veröffentlicht wurde. Und natürlich der taylor'sche Klassiker "Silent Tongues" live in Montreux, 1974. Weitere sehr interessante Piano-Solo-Aufnahmen stammen von Thelonious Monk "Solo Monk", 1965, Jelly Roll Morton "King Porter Stomp", 1923, Fats Waller "A Londres", 1936, (Kirchen-Orgel Solo!), James P. Johnson "The Original – Piano Solos",1942–1945 (er war übrigens ein Lehrer von Waller und "Carolina Shout" aus dem Jahr 1921 ist möglicherweise das erste aufgenommene Jazz-Klavier-Solo), 1984, Bud Powell "Piano Solos", 1952, Willie "The Lion" Smith "Harlem Piano", 1966, Barry Harris "Listen to Barry Harris", 1960, Earl 'Fatha' Hines "Solo", 1956, Eubie Blake "Piano Solos", 1971, Erroll Garner "Solitaire", 1955, Teddy Wilson "The Complete Teddy Wilson Piano Solos", 1991 veröffentlicht, Red Garland "Red Alone", 1960, Dave McKenna "Solo Piano", 1956, Ellis Larkins "Perfume and Rain", 1954, Marian McPartland "Willow Creek and Other Ballads", 1985, Alice Coltrane "Kirtan: Turiya Sings", 1981 (2021 veröffentl., Wurlitzer-Piano!), Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis "The Boogie Woogie Boys", 1939, Sir Charles Thompson "Portrait of a Piano", Egberto Gismonti "Alma", 1986, Chucho Valdés "Solo Piano", 1991, Gonzalo Rubalcaba "Solo", 2006, Bill Evans "The Solo Sessions, Vol. 1 & 2", 1963, Hank Jones "Have You Met Hank Jones", 1956, Tommy Flanagan "Solo Piano", 1974 & "Alone Too Long", 1977, Annette Peacock "I'm The One", 1972, Joanne Brackeen “Live at Maybeck Recital Hall, Volume 1”, 1989 & "Popsicle Illusion", 2000, Elmo & Bertha Hope "Hope-ful", 1961, Mal Waldron "All alone", 1966, Oscar Peterson "My favorite instrument", 1968, "Solo", 1972, Lennie Tristano "The New Tristano", 1961, Paul Bley "Open, to Love, 1972 & "Alone again", 1974, Ran Blake, "Plays Solo Piano", 1966 & "Breakthru", 1975 – übrigens von Paul Bley produziert, Anthony Davis "Past Lives", 1978, Kenny Barron "At the Piano", 1981 & "The Source", 2022, Leo Cuypers "In Amsterdam", 1979, Vic Filmer "The Saga Of Vic Filmer", 1961, Art Hodes "Down Home Blues“, 1971, Dick Wellstood "Alone", 1971, Donald Lambert "Classics In Stride", 1977, Steve Pistorious "The Creole Kid", 1976, Axel Zwingenberger "Boogie Woogie Breakdown", 1976, Herbie Hancock "The Piano", 1979, Eliane Elias "Solos And Duets" (with Herbie Hancock!), 1994, Joe Zawinul "Di-a-lects", 1986, Friedrich Gulda "Play Piano Play", 1971, Cedar Walton “Piano Solos”, 1981, John Lewis "Statements and Sketches for Development", 1976, Keith Jarrett – nein nicht das Köln Konzert, aber dafür "Facing You", 1972, Chick Corea "Improvisations / Children”s Songs", 2010, Mary Lou Williams "Solo Recital", 1978, Marian McPartland "Solo Concert at Haverford", 1974, Andrew Hill "Live at Montreux", 1975 & "From California with Love", 1979, Harold Mabern "Joy Spring", 1985 & "Misty", 2006, George Cables "You Don't Know Me", 2007, Dollar Brand "Ancient Africa", 1974, Abdullah Ibrahim "The Song is my Story", 2014, Phineas Newborn "Solo Piano", 1974, John Hicks "Solo", 1975, Walter Bishop, Jr. "Solo", 1977, Sun Ra "Solo Piano", 1966, Freddie Redd "Extemporaneous (Solo Piano) + 1", 1978, Yosuke Yamashita "It Don't Mean A Thing", 1984, Izumi Hirotaka "Complete Solo Piano Works", ersch. 2023, Wolfgang Dauner "Solo Piano", 1983, Ralph Sutton "Alligator Crawl", 1988, Ralph Towner "Simulacrum”, 1999, Harry Tavitian "Old Balkan Rhapsody", 2002, Johnny Raducanu "Jazz Bestament",  2005, György Szabados "Solo Part 1", 1964-89, "Part 2", 1990-2010, Mulgrew Miller "Solo", 2000, Keith Tippett "Mujician Solo IV", 2015, Misha Mengelberg "Pech Onderweg", 1979, Marilyn Crispell "For Coltrane", 1987, Vagif Mustafa Zadeh "V. Moskve", 1975, Aziza Mustafa Zadeh "Aziza Mustafa Zadeh", 1991, Randy Weston "Blues to Africa", 1974 & "Randy Weston Piano", 1975, Sal Mosca "A Concert", 1979, George Wallington "The Pleasure Of A Jazz Inspiration", 1985, McCoy Tyner "Echoes of a Friend", 1972, Geri Allen "Homegrown", 1985, George Shearing "Music to Hear", 1972, Tete Montoliu "Solo Piano", 1989, Chano Dominguez "En Directo", 2014, Muhal Richard Abrams "Young at Heart/Wise in Time", 1970, Borah Bergman "Burst of Joy", 1976, "A New Frontier", 1983 & "Upside Down Visions", 1984, Horace Tapscott "The Tapscott Sessions", 1982, Harold Danko "After the Rain", 1995, Don Pullen "Solo Piano Album", 1975, Joe Bonner "Devotion", 1983, Horace Parlan "The Maestro", 1979, Kenny Drew "Solo – Duo", 1966/78/83, Walter Norris "Live at Maybeck Recital Hall Volume 5", 1990, Burton Greene "Retrospective 1961-2005", 2005, Dave Burrell "Windward Passages", 1979, Christoph Spendel "The Art of Solo Piano", 1997, Billy Taylor "Solo", 1988, Hampton Hawes "The Challenge", 1968, Bobby Few "Continental Jazz Express", 2000, Sir Roland Hanna "Duke Ellington Piano Solos", 1990, Jimmy Rowles “Plays Ellington and Billy Strayhorn”, 1981, Jaki Byard "Solo Piano", 1969, Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn "Great Times! – Piano Duets", 1950, Stan Kenton "Solo: Stan Kenton Without His Orchestra", 1973, Junior Mance "Junior Mance Special", 1989, Andre Previn "Alone: Ballads for Solo Piano", 2007, Onaje Allen Gumbs "Bloodlife: Solo Piano Inspirations Based on the Melodies of Ronald Shannon Jackson", 2013, Ramsey Lewis "The Piano Player", 1969, "The Beatles Songbook", 2022, Art Lande "Tne Eccentricities Of Earl Dant", 1977, Michael J. Smith “The Dualities Of Man”, 1977, Masabumi Kikuchi "Attached (未練, Miren)", 1989, Sergey Kuryokhin "The Ways of Freedom", 1981, Vyacheslav Ganelin "Con amore" 1987 & "On Stage ... Backstage" 1992, Misha Alperin "At Home" 2000, Stanley Cowell "Musa: Ancestral Streams", 1973, Richie Beirach “Hubris”, 1977, Ahmad Jamal “Ballades”, 2007, Aki Takase "Perdido", 1982, Joachim Kühn "Solos", 1971 & "Melodic Ornette Coleman: Piano Works XIII", 2019, Jasper van't Hof "Solo Piano", 1989, Paul Smith "The Alpha Touch", 1979, Enrico Pieranunzi "What”s What", 1988, Irene Schweizer "Piano Solo Vol 1 & 2", 1990, Sylvie Courvosier "Signs and Epigrams", 2007, Fred van Hove "Die Letzte", 1988, Alexander von Schlippenbach "Slow Pieces for Aki", 2020, Misha Mengelberg "Berlin Solo 1987", Chris McGregor "In His Good Times", 1977, Pat Thomas "NUR", 1999, Kenny Werner "Beauty Secrets", 1999, John Taylor "Insight Sketch", 2003, "Songs & Variations", 2004 & "Angel of the Presence", 2006, Milcho Leviev "PlaysThe Music Of Irving Berlin", 1982 & "Multiple Personalities – Plays The Music Of Don Ellis", 2006, Denny Zeitlin "Soundings", 1978, Al Haig "Solo Interpretation", 1976, Harold Dank "After the Rain", 1994, Michel Petrucciani "Oracle”s Destiny", 1982 & "Promenade With Duke, 1992, Amina Claudine Myers "Poems For Piano", 1979, Meredith Monk "Steppe Music", 1997, Philip Glass "Solo Piano", 1989, "Solo", 2021, Steve Beresford "The bath of surprise", 1980, Django Bates "Autumn Fires (and Green Shoots)", 1994, Agusti Fernandez "Ardent", 2001, Giorgio Gaslini Gaslini "Plays Monk", 1981, "Ayler's Wings", 1991 & "Plays Sun Ra", 2005, Eric Reed “Mercy And Grace”, 2002, Bobo Stenson "Solo Piano", 1999, Peter Ponger "Watercolours", 1992, Wolfgang Mitterer "Reluctant Games", 1992, Josef Novotny "Manöverboard", 1996, Hans Lüdemann "The natural piano", 1995, "Das reale Klavier - ein Kölner Konzert", 2015, Makoto Ozone "Pure Pleasure For The Piano with Ellis Marsalis Jr." 2012, Fred Hersch "Solo", 2015, Agustí Fernández "El Laberint de la Memòria", 2008, Antonello Salis "Pianosolo", 2006, Michel Camilo "Solo", 2005, Anthony Coleman "Shmutsige Magnaten", 2006, Howard Riley "Shaped" 1977, George Duke "The 1976 Solo Keyboard Album", 2004, Franco D´Andrea "Abstactions", 2001, Urs Voerkel "s´Gschänk", 1976, Aydın Esen "Light Years", 2006, Nik Bärtsch "Hishiryo", 2002, Liam Noble "Close Your Eyes", 1994, Luis Perdomo "Montage", 2016, Sophie Agnel "solo", 2000, Elisabeth Harnik "Ways Of My Hands", 2018, Aruán Ortiz "Cub(an)ism Solo piano", 2017, Ulrich Gumpert "´N Tango Für Gitti", 1984, Omar Sosa "Senses", 2011, Joey Calderazzo “Haiku”, 2004, Chris Abrahams “Piano”, 1985, Klaus Ignatzek “Personally”, 2018, Toshiko Akiyoshi “Solo Piano”, 1975, Rita Marcotulli "The Light Side of the Moon", 2006, John Wolf Brennan “The well-prepared clavier/ das wohlpräparierte clavier”, 1998, Ray Bryant “Alone in Montreux “, 1972, Uri Caine “Callithump”, 2014, Hal Galper “At café des copains”, 1990, Hilton Ruiz "Hilton Ruiz Song Book: Solo Piano", 2003, Giorgio Gaslini “Piano Solo(incanti), 2011, Simon Nabatov "Monk 'n' More", 2016, Esbjörn Svensson "Home.s", 2008 (veröffentlicht 2022), Achim Kaufmann “Knives”, 2004, George Colligan "Isolation", 2009, Jacky Terrasson "Mirror", 2007, Jon Balke “book of velocities”, 2007, Kjetil Bjornstad: “Early Piano Music, 2011, Don Preston “Hear Me Out”, 2001, Keith Emerson „Emerson plays Emerson“, 2002, Monty Alexander “Solo”, 1980, “Solo, Café Wortner, Vienna” (übrigens mein Stammcafé), 1985 (ersch. 2023), Roland Batik "From Bach to Batik", 2004, Larry Goldings "In My Room", 2011, Mario Laginha "Songs and Fugues", 2005, Veryan Weston "Playing Alone", 1993, Kit Downes "Little Moon Man" & "Alive with Closed Eyes", 2013, Rossano Sportiello "That’s It!", 2020, Livio Minafra "La Dolcezza del Grido", 2003, "La Fiamma e il Cristallo", 2008, "Sole Luna", 2016, Lyle Mays "Solo-Improvisations For Extended Piano", 1998, Don Friedman "From A To Z", 2005, Kirk Lightsey "1", 1983 & "I Will Never Stop Loving You", 2021, Pablo Ziegler "Solo", 2018, Jack DeJohnette "Return", 2016, oder vier ganz kuriose, nämlich "Mingus plays Piano" (1964), Anthony Braxton "Solo Piano (Standards)", 1995, Charles Gayle "Jazz Solo Piano", 2001 und John Zorn "The Hermetic Organ (1-12)", 2024.

Natürlich gibt es auch aktuellere ausgezeichnete Beispiele wie Brad Mehldau "Ten Years Solo Live" oder Arbeiten von Brian Marsella "John Zorn”s Bagatelles Vol. 7", 2021, Craig Taborn "Shadow Play", 2020 (Wiener Konzerthaus), Iiro Rantala "My Working Class Hero", 2015, Jacob Karlzon "One", 2015, Myra Melford "Life Carries Me This Way", 2013, Sullivan Fortner “Solo Game”, 2023, Nduduzo Makhathini "Ithemba (Solo Piano)", 2016, Micah Thomas “Piano Solo”, 2022, Kurt Rosenwinkel "Piano Solo", 2020, Vijay Iyer “Solo”, 2010, Benny Green “Solo”, 2022, Adam Makowicz "Songs for Manhattan", 2003, Adam Makowicz & Leszek Mozdzer "Makowich vs Mozdzer at Carnegie Hall", 2004,Leszek Mozdzer "Komeda", 2011, Stefano Bollani "Piano Solo", 2006, Moncef Genoud "Live in Cully (Solo Piano)", 2015, Nitai Hershkovitz "Call on the Old Wise", 2022, Antonis Anissegos "Piano Desktop Complete", 2022, Bugge Wesselthoft "Everybody Loves Angels", 2017, Kaja Draksler "Sothe My Soul, Feed My Thought", 2017, Alexander Hawkins "Iron into winds", 2022, Jason Moran "Solo", 2021, Simon Raab "Those Things Falling", 2023, David Helbock "Purple", 2012 & "Playing John Williams", 2019, Luca Flores "Innocence", 2019, Bill Laurance "Aftersun", 2016, Dan Tepfer "Natural Machines", 2019 & "Inventions / Reinventions", 2023, Tord Gustavsen "Inkarnasjon VI", 2020, Mathis Picard "Live at the Blue Llama", 2022, Gwilym Simcock "Good Days at Schloss Elmau", 2011, Bojan Z. "As Is (Tel quel)", 2023, Tigran Hamasyan "A Fable", 2011, Aaron Parks "Arborescence", 2013, Jason Rebello "Held", 2016, Hiromi Uehara "Spectrum", 2019, Michael Wollny "Mondenkind", 2020, Tania Giannouli "Solo", 2023, Kari Ikonen "Impressions, Improvisations and Compositions", 2021, Georg Graewe "Nothing Personal", RA CD 37, 38, 39, 2023, Georg Vogel "Piano Solo", 2022 & "Claviton Solo", 2024, Martin Listabarth "Short Stories", 2019, Elias Stemeseder "Piano Solo", 2021, Martin Gasselsberger "Solo in Innsbruck", 2022, Jake Sherman "What A Wonderful World", 2023, Ethan Iverson "Into the Dark", 2024 – just to name a few...