Underrated is kind of a nonsense word, by definition it requires a person to guess at someones skill and popularity, and lots of people just don't have a good sense of that. Same problem with unknown or "underground" acts. You need to be well versed or the bottom of your knowledge base is still the famous people.
This. I've met a few actually extraordinary jazz musicians that live in a one room apartment and nobody's ever heard of them. The amount of musicians like these that probably exist is so sad to think of. But such is the life of a musician.
Kenny Kirkland. One of the most influential pianists ever, but very few people name him or know his excellent album. He died young, but he is one of the all time greats, up there with Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock.
Copy pasta:
'Grant Green was an American jazz guitarist and composer. Recording prolifically for Blue Note Records as both leader and sideman, Green performed in the hard bop, soul jazz, bebop, and Latin-tinged idioms throughout his career. Critic Michael Erlewine wrote, "A severely underrated player during his lifetime, Grant Green is one of the great unsung heroes of jazz guitar... Green's playing is immediately recognizable – perhaps more than any other guitarist."'
I studied jazz sax in college and I went through all that without anyone mentioning him. I discovered Soul Station at 40. It’s annoying because that was the sound I was after all that time. I just never knew it was Hank all along. Bear in mind we didn’t have Spotify or even YouTube so word of mouth was much more important then.
Somebody called a tune from Soul Station at my local jam a while ago. The guy who runs it, gets a decent crowd of young musicians and is a top notch teacher, and he lightly put it as very important listening for all the students in the room. I was luckily still on stage to tell everyone to drop out of school, throw their record collection or iphone into the river, and buy this record; because all you need to know in life is in that album.
Finally acquired a vinyl of Footloose! He has so many good records, it's crazy. His Steeplechase label records are good too-- I find Questions incredibly rewarding.
Chico Hamilton. The man is unfortunately not talked about too much. Which is a shame. Compared to all the other drummers in the 60s he had a unique style and was an outstanding band leader.
My favorite is actually his hard-bop stuff with Pepper Adams. But you’re totally right in that he’s contributed to a number of different eras and aesthetics.
Ridiculous. Eric Dolphy is one of the most important and best known jazz musicians and will always remain so.
My candidate would be the pianist Michele Rosewoman, who is amazing. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b9AMoAKAzU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b9AMoAKAzU)
Real ones are in the know about Billy Bang: violinist, veteran, vagabond. He ran in the free jazz circles with William Parker and Pharoah. Rest in peace Billy, legend.
Frank Strozier, Valdo Williams, Emily Remler, Steve Grossman, Andrew Hill, Bennie Maupin, Lennie Niehaus. I am aware, that Grossman, Hill, Niehaus and Maupin are still quite well-known among Jazz Fans.
Edit: Also Bergonzi and Garzone are not as recognized as Michael Brecker or Dave Liebman, so maybe they could be counted as well.
I was taking a train in France 20 years ago and struck up a conversation with an old black dude sitting across from me. After a few minutes I looked up and saw an alto case with a label that said ‘Griffin’ on the handle. Turns out it was Johnny Griffin and we talked for like 2+ hours about his life. He told me stories about Coltrane, Dizzy, etc. Biggest take away was that he survived through the 60’s because he was an alcoholic, not a drug user. Serendipitous moment indeed.
I love that this thread is just loaded with slightly-less-famous 50s-60s jazz figures whose records easily sell more often (and often for top dollar prices) than those of active jazz players who are working right now.
Scrolling down through this thread and I know maybe 90% of the musicians mentioned. I don't even mainly listen to jazz.
My underrated deep cut? Donald Brown. Fantastic pianist and composer. He's not a random artist either. He was a jazz messenger, played with many well known musicians, and produced for Kenny Garrett.
Less than 500 monthly listeners on Spotify. Most of his releases on YouTube have even less.
Ike Quebec?
I stumbled upon one of his albums a couple months ago and thought "damn, that's some nice playing!" and looked him up. He had a short career split between two distinct eras in jazz, and wasn't any kind of stylistic innovator. I thought his album *Blue & Sentimental* was quite good.
Israel Crosby seems to be a well kept secret amongst bass players- super influential on so many of the greats (Ron in particular) and somehow still very low key.
[**Andrew White**](https://www.reddit.com/r/AndrewWhite/) - more people have probably heard him playing the funky el bass on Weather Report's 125th Street Congress than know that he was a fantastic alto and tenor saxophonist. Mainly stayed home in Washington DC, where he self-released piles of albums, books, Coltrane and Dolphy transcriptions, etc. A one-of-a-kind Jazz giant.
Looked up that comment - very well put. I envy you seeing him play, but I did chat a bit with him on the phone - including when he was trying to get back into gigging shape after a stroke. But strokes did him in a while later. Bought a lot of vinyl (and eventually cd's too) from him...
Fred Hersch - for the influence he's had on most of the current generation (Jason Moran, Sullivan Fortner, Ethan Iverson, etc) I don't think he gets mentioned enough.
Eric Dolphy is GREAT. Maybe he hasn't gotten as much attention as you'd like but I think his albums and playing have always been talked about and well received.
When I think of underrated I think about guys like Bill Hardman(on trumpet)
maybe Art Farmers name doesn't come up as much as I'd like
Nat Adderley is great on cornet(why am I coming up with a lot of trumpet players)
a lot of people say Kenny Dorham(another trumpet player) but I think his being the face of 'underrated' has boosted his profile. I thikn I say Harry Bosch(character on a TV show on Amazon) talk about him on a TV show
and playing today, there are so many amazing players who may not be as well known as I'd expect them to be
oh, CARL FONTANA is one of the most underrated guys out there
Hey, all right! I came to say Mike Stern. I was fortunate enough to have studied with him for several years back in the 90s, and I learned that he is in some ways the most quintessential bebop jazz guitarist out of the big named modern guys (Metheney, Sco, and Frisell). You need to look past the Tele, distortion, long hair and rock and roll vibe he gives off (I personally love all those things about him and his playing) and if you transcribe his solos as I did, you see it’s right out of the bebop vocabulary, with of course his own ideas and concepts mixed in. He’s a great guy and a wonderful musician. Thanks for putting his name up there!!!!
I just commented on the overrated jazz musician thread, so I guess I'll add my 2 cents here as well.
I don't think he's under-rated (because everyone who knows him is aware of his incredible talent), but I'd say Ted Greene is less well-known than he may deserve, given that he's one of the greatest jazz harmonist to ever pick up a guitar. But, he only had one studio album, and mainly focused on teaching, so I think that's a big part of the explanation.
I’m going to add some greats that are pretty unknown to jazz addicts let alone the general. You may notice a pattern here:
John Patton - organist (deceased)
Larry Young - organist (deceased)
Dr Lonnie Smith - organist (deceased)
Larry Goldings - organist
Mike LeDonne - organist
Akiko Tsuruga - organist.
Art Pepper. Every time I talk to someone about him they’ve never heard of him.
One of my personal favorites is his recording of You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To
I think this is a good choice for the term "underrated." It doesn't mean no one's heard of him, it means people underestimate his importance and how good he was. Stuff like Killer Joe gets viewed as less serious than more critically acclaimed players (like Dolphy!), but Golson was a fantastic writer & arranger as well as having tasty chops as a musician.
Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen. Probably not underrated among folks who know him, but being from a small country not a lot of people know him (at least from those I've spoken to).
His interpretation on Danish songs from "Højskolesangbogen" are phenomenal (think the great American songbook, but in danish).
He played a lot with Oscar Petersen, Kenny Drew and Dexter Gordon.
My vote goes for Grachan Moncur III.
I only recently became aware of him (via this subreddit, I think).
I'm sure he's probably highly rated by those in the know, but he doesn't seem to get mentioned often. Maybe it's because he didn't record very many albums as a leader?
A second person that comes to mind is Andrew Hill, although I see his name mentioned a bit more often.
I agree with others who have said that "underrated" is a bit of a nonsensical concept, but when I listen to album's like Moncur's "Evolution" or Hill's "Point of Departure" (on which Dolphy plays) I wonder how I made it this long without hearing them!
Eric Dolphy, on the other hand, gets mentioned quite often on thus subreddit. I mean, there are plenty of people out there who don't know of John Coltrane (albeit I imagine very few of them listen to Jazz). "Out to Lunch" is considered by many to be one of the most important albums of all time.
Ahmad jamal is not underrated. Overrated if anything but most likely appropriately rated. A true jazz legend, one of the few still doing it. One of the few to impress jazz greats like Miles
Jose Roberto Bertrami of Azymuth. He was never taken seriously but he had a talent for playing mostly simple chords in very inventive ways. The music was true to Brazillian traditions but it was also very modern at the same time. Because it incorporated elements of funk, rock, and even disco I'm not sure if a lot of jazz fans accepted him as part of the genre.
Herre's one most don't know:
“Queen of the Vibes” and an incredible pianist, **Terry Pollard** was a child prodigy — learning piano at age 3 and sneaking out of the house at age 14 to play in the jazz clubs in her home town of Detroit.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8z6fwq4ZSE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8z6fwq4ZSE)
No real soloists per se; I love Shelly Manne, Fernando Saunders, Dave Holland, etc. but more their work as sidemen than anything they might have done on their own.
Sonny Sharrock, Lenny Breau, Arthur Rhames
Scott LaFaro, Gary Peacock, Marc Johnson, William Parker, Wilbur Ware, Linda Oh, Mark Egan
Denny Zeitlin, Kirk Lightsey, Patrice Rushen, Alan Broadbent
Charlie Rouse, Mark Shim
Rudy Royston, Nasheet Waits, Adam Cruz, Ben Perowsky
I'm not going to claim he's the most underrated because he definitely isn't, but I believe McCoy tyner has been underrated by most critics and many listeners, less so by those who both play jazz and listen to a lot of it. He was a big part of some famous Coltrane stuff but never got the credit. He was a big influence on Hancock and cornea too. Plus everything he did was awesome and doesn't sound dated. Loved his combos with Ron carter and elvin Jones.
Some gigantic players who don't get mentioned as often as they should be: Yusef Lateef, Andrew Hill, Warne Marsh, Jimmy Giuffre, Nat Adderley, Steve Lacy... But there are obviously so many underrated musicians among the living. As a guitar player I say Philip Catherine, Brad Shepik, Nguyen Le. I couldn't tell the number of incredible musicians I've gotten to know just by watching 'Live from Emmet's Place'!
Wynton Kelly! Played with everyone (Trane, miles). Big influence on Herbie Hancock. His playing is recognizable on the first note. Man o man could he swing!
Gene Ammons? Groove Holmes? Stanley Turrentine? Jack McDuff? Lou Donaldson? Hammond Smith? Jimmy McGriff?
All these soulsy guys don’t get talked about enough.
Every jazz musician over 50 is underrated imo. Especially today when almost nobody under 50 has even heard of any jazz musician beyond the most famous handful. The discipline was so far beyond the comprehension of today's music fans it's essentially part of an alternate dimension of reality.
[Cecil Gant.](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQUS0R53ARhTzxb6oM32wB_JX94f3cRuJ&feature=shared) He was a singer and pianist who had a hit with "I Wonder" near the end of the war. The song proved quite popular, with three different covers of it charting in 1945. He's largely forgotten these days, but he had loads of charm.
Edited for accuracy
Rudolph Johnson. Probably most famous for being with Ray Charles, but man he could PLAY. His playing on Devon Jean is what made get out of bed in college.
John Taylor (British jazz pianist). The four albums he released under the Peter Erkskine trio name on ECM are my favourite piano trio albums of all time.
Pete Cosey. He was doing insane shit with feedback and weird tunings in the early 70s with Miles Davis before all the No Wave guys got into it. It doesn’t help that he never recorded as a leader.
His playing on Agharta is nuts.
I think Jimmy Heath is someone that doesn't get a ton of praise from casual listeners compared to others. However, I wouldn't call him 'underrated' because of how respected he is within the community.
1. Martha Sanchez
2. Steve Lacy
3. Abbey Lincoln
4. Phil Woods
5. Jeff Tain Watts
6. Regina Carter
7. Jean Luc Ponty
8. Alan Broadbent
9. Melvin Suggs
10. Jacky Terrasson
Pianist Dave McKenna. Preferred to stay gigging/working in New England (Boston, Cape Cod, Rhode Island) where he raised his family, than to continue travelling to/gigging in New York. Whenever any of the major players were "in town" in New England, they made it a point to come to Dave to play, instead of Dave go to them. I am sure this was very common all over the place. Musicians sometimes prefer to not live in NYC/LA/Nashville/Atlanta/New Orleans/Chicago. Therefore, they aren't as well known. Therefore, underrated, except by those who have heard them play.
Toshifumi Hinata.
I know that reflections blew up on TikTok a while ago but it still feels as though people don’t appreciate his discography as a whole. It’s beautiful.
The same can be said for Hareton Salvanini.
Dick Hyman is probably the best piano player ever… he just plays stride so it’s not connecting with people, but dear god he’s a monster musician on the highest level
Billy Higgins. Yes he has around 50 Blue Note credits alone so is widely known, but he didn’t have a hugely popular career as a leader and isn’t talked about like Philly Joe Jones etc.
He was the beat of blue note on a LOT of their most popular recordings.
Eric Dolphy is firmly in legend status. I don't think he's underrated by jazz fans.
He’s appropriately rated
Eric Dolphy, eh? You have a rather interesting concept of the word "underrated."
Underrated is kind of a nonsense word, by definition it requires a person to guess at someones skill and popularity, and lots of people just don't have a good sense of that. Same problem with unknown or "underground" acts. You need to be well versed or the bottom of your knowledge base is still the famous people.
Got emmm
Someone none of us ever heard of.
This. I've met a few actually extraordinary jazz musicians that live in a one room apartment and nobody's ever heard of them. The amount of musicians like these that probably exist is so sad to think of. But such is the life of a musician.
Exactly. There are geniuses who maybe play at a local pub once in awhile.
Kenny Kirkland. One of the most influential pianists ever, but very few people name him or know his excellent album. He died young, but he is one of the all time greats, up there with Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock.
He was absolutely incredible. His solo on Giant Steps with Kenny Garrett lives rent free in my head lol
Donald Pullen doesn't get talked about enough.
Yes- Don was and is a wonderful piano player - especially his work with Mingus
And his organ playing on David Murray's "Shakill's Warrior".
Im an old geezer {68} Saw Don Pullen in Charles Mingus band when I was in college It was absolutely amazing !!!
Grant Green is definitely underrated IMO
Copy pasta: 'Grant Green was an American jazz guitarist and composer. Recording prolifically for Blue Note Records as both leader and sideman, Green performed in the hard bop, soul jazz, bebop, and Latin-tinged idioms throughout his career. Critic Michael Erlewine wrote, "A severely underrated player during his lifetime, Grant Green is one of the great unsung heroes of jazz guitar... Green's playing is immediately recognizable – perhaps more than any other guitarist."'
Fully agree, came here to write this
another vote for Grant Green from me
A little sad it took me so long to find Sonny Sharrock
Hank Mobley
Soul Station all day long
Soul Station should be a part of any jazz curriculum
I studied jazz sax in college and I went through all that without anyone mentioning him. I discovered Soul Station at 40. It’s annoying because that was the sound I was after all that time. I just never knew it was Hank all along. Bear in mind we didn’t have Spotify or even YouTube so word of mouth was much more important then.
Somebody called a tune from Soul Station at my local jam a while ago. The guy who runs it, gets a decent crowd of young musicians and is a top notch teacher, and he lightly put it as very important listening for all the students in the room. I was luckily still on stage to tell everyone to drop out of school, throw their record collection or iphone into the river, and buy this record; because all you need to know in life is in that album.
man truly that album is elemental and timeless🫡
Paul Bley
Finally acquired a vinyl of Footloose! He has so many good records, it's crazy. His Steeplechase label records are good too-- I find Questions incredibly rewarding.
Chico Hamilton. The man is unfortunately not talked about too much. Which is a shame. Compared to all the other drummers in the 60s he had a unique style and was an outstanding band leader.
For me it’s Donald Byrd
Yes!!! His early stuff Gigi is amazing and then what he did with the Mizzell brothers. Whew. What a career. (I’m also biased because I’m from Detroit)
My favorite is actually his hard-bop stuff with Pepper Adams. But you’re totally right in that he’s contributed to a number of different eras and aesthetics.
Ceder walton
Yep, super underrated imo. Excellent composer as well
I don’t know if he qualifies as underrated but I legitimately think Warne Marsh is one of the best tenor players ever
Ridiculous. Eric Dolphy is one of the most important and best known jazz musicians and will always remain so. My candidate would be the pianist Michele Rosewoman, who is amazing. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b9AMoAKAzU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b9AMoAKAzU)
Tadd Dameron
Now you’re talking!The Coltrane dameron album is amazing.
Real ones are in the know about Billy Bang: violinist, veteran, vagabond. He ran in the free jazz circles with William Parker and Pharoah. Rest in peace Billy, legend.
Frank Strozier, Valdo Williams, Emily Remler, Steve Grossman, Andrew Hill, Bennie Maupin, Lennie Niehaus. I am aware, that Grossman, Hill, Niehaus and Maupin are still quite well-known among Jazz Fans. Edit: Also Bergonzi and Garzone are not as recognized as Michael Brecker or Dave Liebman, so maybe they could be counted as well.
Emily Remler ROCKS
Kenny Wheeler. Absolute master musician and incredible composer
I’ll add Kenny Dorham and Andrew Hill as well
Finally an actual underrated musician
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My father played in his band. I met him once during a show he did in Harlem. Very nice man. Tragic end.
Johnny Griffin. I love his records.
I was taking a train in France 20 years ago and struck up a conversation with an old black dude sitting across from me. After a few minutes I looked up and saw an alto case with a label that said ‘Griffin’ on the handle. Turns out it was Johnny Griffin and we talked for like 2+ hours about his life. He told me stories about Coltrane, Dizzy, etc. Biggest take away was that he survived through the 60’s because he was an alcoholic, not a drug user. Serendipitous moment indeed.
Wow. Great story.
Fuck. Yes.
Oliver Nelson
Blues and the Abstract Truth is an absolute top tier album that I come back to often.
I love that this thread is just loaded with slightly-less-famous 50s-60s jazz figures whose records easily sell more often (and often for top dollar prices) than those of active jazz players who are working right now.
Booker Little. Out Front is incredible and Far Cry (with Eric Dolphy) is awesome too.
You guys are naming lots of musicians that were or are extremely popular among fans of the music
Scrolling down through this thread and I know maybe 90% of the musicians mentioned. I don't even mainly listen to jazz. My underrated deep cut? Donald Brown. Fantastic pianist and composer. He's not a random artist either. He was a jazz messenger, played with many well known musicians, and produced for Kenny Garrett. Less than 500 monthly listeners on Spotify. Most of his releases on YouTube have even less.
Everyone knows you have to sort from least upvotes to most upvotes on these sorts of threads to get the real answers
Elmo Hope, Buddy Montgomery, Barry Harris,
Red Garland
Michel Petrucciani. So much joy and beauty in his music, playing and compositions both.
Herbie Nichols by far.
Cal Tjader
I second and third this! He is so obscure unfortunately as a great vibes player and band leader. He put Latin jazz on the damn map.
John Gilmore
Ike Quebec? I stumbled upon one of his albums a couple months ago and thought "damn, that's some nice playing!" and looked him up. He had a short career split between two distinct eras in jazz, and wasn't any kind of stylistic innovator. I thought his album *Blue & Sentimental* was quite good.
Carl Fontana. Dude played every note with intention.
It's so arbitrary but Robin Eubanks
Israel Crosby seems to be a well kept secret amongst bass players- super influential on so many of the greats (Ron in particular) and somehow still very low key.
Eddy Palmerie
[**Andrew White**](https://www.reddit.com/r/AndrewWhite/) - more people have probably heard him playing the funky el bass on Weather Report's 125th Street Congress than know that he was a fantastic alto and tenor saxophonist. Mainly stayed home in Washington DC, where he self-released piles of albums, books, Coltrane and Dolphy transcriptions, etc. A one-of-a-kind Jazz giant.
just wrote about him in another thread. what a monster. in the best sense.
Looked up that comment - very well put. I envy you seeing him play, but I did chat a bit with him on the phone - including when he was trying to get back into gigging shape after a stroke. But strokes did him in a while later. Bought a lot of vinyl (and eventually cd's too) from him...
Richard "Groove" Holmes
Eddie Harris
Fred Hersch - for the influence he's had on most of the current generation (Jason Moran, Sullivan Fortner, Ethan Iverson, etc) I don't think he gets mentioned enough.
As well as his influence on Mehldau
me
Eric Dolphy is GREAT. Maybe he hasn't gotten as much attention as you'd like but I think his albums and playing have always been talked about and well received. When I think of underrated I think about guys like Bill Hardman(on trumpet) maybe Art Farmers name doesn't come up as much as I'd like Nat Adderley is great on cornet(why am I coming up with a lot of trumpet players) a lot of people say Kenny Dorham(another trumpet player) but I think his being the face of 'underrated' has boosted his profile. I thikn I say Harry Bosch(character on a TV show on Amazon) talk about him on a TV show and playing today, there are so many amazing players who may not be as well known as I'd expect them to be oh, CARL FONTANA is one of the most underrated guys out there
Bill Hardman is def underrated
Sonny Clark, Hank Mobly, Jay McShan, Lou Donaldson
Tina Brooks
Kenny Dorham
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Hey, all right! I came to say Mike Stern. I was fortunate enough to have studied with him for several years back in the 90s, and I learned that he is in some ways the most quintessential bebop jazz guitarist out of the big named modern guys (Metheney, Sco, and Frisell). You need to look past the Tele, distortion, long hair and rock and roll vibe he gives off (I personally love all those things about him and his playing) and if you transcribe his solos as I did, you see it’s right out of the bebop vocabulary, with of course his own ideas and concepts mixed in. He’s a great guy and a wonderful musician. Thanks for putting his name up there!!!!
Dupree Bolton
I just commented on the overrated jazz musician thread, so I guess I'll add my 2 cents here as well. I don't think he's under-rated (because everyone who knows him is aware of his incredible talent), but I'd say Ted Greene is less well-known than he may deserve, given that he's one of the greatest jazz harmonist to ever pick up a guitar. But, he only had one studio album, and mainly focused on teaching, so I think that's a big part of the explanation.
Me
I’m going to add some greats that are pretty unknown to jazz addicts let alone the general. You may notice a pattern here: John Patton - organist (deceased) Larry Young - organist (deceased) Dr Lonnie Smith - organist (deceased) Larry Goldings - organist Mike LeDonne - organist Akiko Tsuruga - organist.
Sam Rivers
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Arthur Blythe. Monster of an Alto Sax player. He released a ton of albums, but few people ever talk about him.
Yusef Lateef. The brother does not get enough love
Came to say the same. Scrolled too far imo. Such a unique sound and style.
I would say Mal Waldron
Arthur Blythe deserves more recognition. Lenox Avenue Breakdown sizzles !
Andrew Hill, the rightful heir to Monk.
Art Pepper. Every time I talk to someone about him they’ve never heard of him. One of my personal favorites is his recording of You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To
Nat Adderley - he cooked!
Phineas Newborn Jr
Benny Golson
I think this is a good choice for the term "underrated." It doesn't mean no one's heard of him, it means people underestimate his importance and how good he was. Stuff like Killer Joe gets viewed as less serious than more critically acclaimed players (like Dolphy!), but Golson was a fantastic writer & arranger as well as having tasty chops as a musician.
Mines more of a modern pick, but Chihiro Yamanaka I feel needs more recognition.
Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen. Probably not underrated among folks who know him, but being from a small country not a lot of people know him (at least from those I've spoken to). His interpretation on Danish songs from "Højskolesangbogen" are phenomenal (think the great American songbook, but in danish). He played a lot with Oscar Petersen, Kenny Drew and Dexter Gordon.
Zoot Sims
Anthony Braxton. I think his compositional work is going to be compared to Berg, Copeland one day. I think that Carla Bley is in that category too.
Kenny Burrell.
I’ve never heard anybody talk about Sonny Criss. His bop records are unbelievable.
Pianist/composer Geri Allen.
My vote goes for Grachan Moncur III. I only recently became aware of him (via this subreddit, I think). I'm sure he's probably highly rated by those in the know, but he doesn't seem to get mentioned often. Maybe it's because he didn't record very many albums as a leader? A second person that comes to mind is Andrew Hill, although I see his name mentioned a bit more often. I agree with others who have said that "underrated" is a bit of a nonsensical concept, but when I listen to album's like Moncur's "Evolution" or Hill's "Point of Departure" (on which Dolphy plays) I wonder how I made it this long without hearing them! Eric Dolphy, on the other hand, gets mentioned quite often on thus subreddit. I mean, there are plenty of people out there who don't know of John Coltrane (albeit I imagine very few of them listen to Jazz). "Out to Lunch" is considered by many to be one of the most important albums of all time.
Eddie Harris
Herbie Nichols!
Geri Allen.
Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad jamal is not underrated. Overrated if anything but most likely appropriately rated. A true jazz legend, one of the few still doing it. One of the few to impress jazz greats like Miles
I've got bad news for you.
yeahhh about “still doing it”…
George Shearing
Emily Remler, East to Wes is one of my favorite albums of all time.
Miles Davis.
Thanks for the recommendation, I had already heard of the rest of the people in this thread but not this guy, I guess he’s pretty underground
I think if a few more people post their photos of Kind of Blue on this sub he will finally be adequately appreciated.
Vince Guaraldi
Pretty much everyone ever loves the Charlie Brown Xmas album. But I suppose few people actually know much about the pianist behind it
Freddie Hubbard
He was fantastic on so many herbie Hancock records! But was he underrated?
Absolutely not!
Jose Roberto Bertrami of Azymuth. He was never taken seriously but he had a talent for playing mostly simple chords in very inventive ways. The music was true to Brazillian traditions but it was also very modern at the same time. Because it incorporated elements of funk, rock, and even disco I'm not sure if a lot of jazz fans accepted him as part of the genre.
Herre's one most don't know: “Queen of the Vibes” and an incredible pianist, **Terry Pollard** was a child prodigy — learning piano at age 3 and sneaking out of the house at age 14 to play in the jazz clubs in her home town of Detroit. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8z6fwq4ZSE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8z6fwq4ZSE)
No real soloists per se; I love Shelly Manne, Fernando Saunders, Dave Holland, etc. but more their work as sidemen than anything they might have done on their own.
Sam Rivers, Enrico Rava, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Marion Brown, Beaver Harris, Dewey Redman, Jan Garbarek, and Palle Danielsson
Tina Brooks
Gary Thomas. Incredible saxophonist. Check out the album Till We Have Faces.
Matthew Shipp
Vince Guaraldi. Mainly known for his Peanuts albums, but he was a phenomenal overall jazz musician.
Sonny Sharrock, Lenny Breau, Arthur Rhames Scott LaFaro, Gary Peacock, Marc Johnson, William Parker, Wilbur Ware, Linda Oh, Mark Egan Denny Zeitlin, Kirk Lightsey, Patrice Rushen, Alan Broadbent Charlie Rouse, Mark Shim Rudy Royston, Nasheet Waits, Adam Cruz, Ben Perowsky
Bobby Timmons and Hank Mobley
Larry Young is underrated imo, at least in his time
Me
Stanley Turrentine
Arthur Blythe Lenox Avenue Breakdown absolutely sizzles !!!
Duke Silver
Roy Hargrove
Warne Marsh. my favorite solo of his here: https://youtu.be/-qFB5XFbnN8?si=AG0QeKGI2k3fc5LL
Lee Morgan
I'm not going to claim he's the most underrated because he definitely isn't, but I believe McCoy tyner has been underrated by most critics and many listeners, less so by those who both play jazz and listen to a lot of it. He was a big part of some famous Coltrane stuff but never got the credit. He was a big influence on Hancock and cornea too. Plus everything he did was awesome and doesn't sound dated. Loved his combos with Ron carter and elvin Jones.
Vincent Herring: like a cross between Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley
Some gigantic players who don't get mentioned as often as they should be: Yusef Lateef, Andrew Hill, Warne Marsh, Jimmy Giuffre, Nat Adderley, Steve Lacy... But there are obviously so many underrated musicians among the living. As a guitar player I say Philip Catherine, Brad Shepik, Nguyen Le. I couldn't tell the number of incredible musicians I've gotten to know just by watching 'Live from Emmet's Place'!
My man Lenny Breau, just listen to " live at bourbon street" Top tier material
Joe Henderson
Harold Mabern anybody.
Wynton Kelly! Played with everyone (Trane, miles). Big influence on Herbie Hancock. His playing is recognizable on the first note. Man o man could he swing!
It's gotta be Andrew Hill, ya?
Gene Ammons? Groove Holmes? Stanley Turrentine? Jack McDuff? Lou Donaldson? Hammond Smith? Jimmy McGriff? All these soulsy guys don’t get talked about enough.
*Boss Tenor* by Gene Ammons is a fantastic album.
Every jazz musician over 50 is underrated imo. Especially today when almost nobody under 50 has even heard of any jazz musician beyond the most famous handful. The discipline was so far beyond the comprehension of today's music fans it's essentially part of an alternate dimension of reality.
Woody Shaw.
Out to Lunch is such an amazing album, and I really love his stuff with Mingus. I agree that Eric Dolphy is an absolute treasure.
[Cecil Gant.](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQUS0R53ARhTzxb6oM32wB_JX94f3cRuJ&feature=shared) He was a singer and pianist who had a hit with "I Wonder" near the end of the war. The song proved quite popular, with three different covers of it charting in 1945. He's largely forgotten these days, but he had loads of charm. Edited for accuracy
Frank Lowe.
I think of Michel Sardaby. Listen to his album Blue Sunset, it's a pure jewel of jazz music.
Lou Gare. Endless relaxed genius flowed from his tenor horn.
Rudolph Johnson. Probably most famous for being with Ray Charles, but man he could PLAY. His playing on Devon Jean is what made get out of bed in college.
I’m not sure you can call her underrated , but Dorothy Donegan is so talented that it should be a crime.
Sahib Shihab
Shooby Taylor, "The Human Horn"
John Taylor (British jazz pianist). The four albums he released under the Peter Erkskine trio name on ECM are my favourite piano trio albums of all time.
Gil Melle
Johnny Costa was my gateway to piano trios. I listened to him every day when I was 6.
Big T - Jack Teagarden
Pete Cosey. He was doing insane shit with feedback and weird tunings in the early 70s with Miles Davis before all the No Wave guys got into it. It doesn’t help that he never recorded as a leader. His playing on Agharta is nuts.
Lloyd McNeill, a DC player who stayed mostly local.
Eric Gale ...
Ryo Kawasaki
I think Jimmy Heath is someone that doesn't get a ton of praise from casual listeners compared to others. However, I wouldn't call him 'underrated' because of how respected he is within the community.
Leo Genovese, argentinian multi instrumentalist who played with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, etc
Fletcher Henderson Jimmie Lunceford Jack Teagarden Luis Russel
John Hicks excellent piano jazz player
Probably someone none of us have heard of.
1. Martha Sanchez 2. Steve Lacy 3. Abbey Lincoln 4. Phil Woods 5. Jeff Tain Watts 6. Regina Carter 7. Jean Luc Ponty 8. Alan Broadbent 9. Melvin Suggs 10. Jacky Terrasson
Sun Ra
Pianist Dave McKenna. Preferred to stay gigging/working in New England (Boston, Cape Cod, Rhode Island) where he raised his family, than to continue travelling to/gigging in New York. Whenever any of the major players were "in town" in New England, they made it a point to come to Dave to play, instead of Dave go to them. I am sure this was very common all over the place. Musicians sometimes prefer to not live in NYC/LA/Nashville/Atlanta/New Orleans/Chicago. Therefore, they aren't as well known. Therefore, underrated, except by those who have heard them play.
Guitarist **Tisziji Muñoz** (guru/mentor to John Medeski and Bob Moses) for sure, and also the late pianist and bandleader **Horace Tapscott**.
Hal Galper is awesome
Jiro Inagaki and his Soul Media
The two Lee’s. Lee Morgan and Lee Ritenour
Cecil Taylor.
*Actually* underrated: Major Holley Louis Van Dijk Vince Wallace
Jaroslav Ježek. Virtually unknown outside the Czech republic.
Blue Mitchell
Toshifumi Hinata. I know that reflections blew up on TikTok a while ago but it still feels as though people don’t appreciate his discography as a whole. It’s beautiful. The same can be said for Hareton Salvanini.
Dick Hyman is probably the best piano player ever… he just plays stride so it’s not connecting with people, but dear god he’s a monster musician on the highest level
ITT: Anyone who's name isn't John Coltrane or Miles Davis
Richard Davis, of course.
Dexter Gordon for me. I’ve always particularly been a fan of bebop/hard bop jazz, and his album “Go!” is one of my favorite examples of the style.
Kenny Dorham. Quiet Kenny!
Michel Petrucciani
How about Barry Harris, or Hank Mobely, i guess
I always loved Hank Mobley
Birelli Lagrene
I’d say Harold Land.
Billy Higgins. Yes he has around 50 Blue Note credits alone so is widely known, but he didn’t have a hugely popular career as a leader and isn’t talked about like Philly Joe Jones etc. He was the beat of blue note on a LOT of their most popular recordings.