Jazz pianist/keyboardist born June 12, 1941 in Chelsea, Massachusetts, USA, and on February 9, 2021, died of a rare cancer that had only very recently been diagnosed. His father was a jazz trumpet player and Chick grew up being exposed to many earlier jazz musicians' work. He became popular in the 1960s, also playing jazz fusion, and performing with Stan Getz and Herbie Mann. Starting in the late '60s, he toured with Miles Davis.

He was involved with Scientology, and performed on the 1982 album "Space Jazz," which was meant to accompany L. Ron Hubbard's novel "Battlefield Earth". It was not well received, and a number of musicians and critics felt that his involvement with Scientology negatively influenced his music. Regardless, his music is well-known and has influenced many other musicians, composers, and fans. He was nominated 60 times and won 25 Grammy awards.

Jamie Cullum - British jazz singer and pianist.

Bill Evans was a jazz pianist and composer, born August 16, 1929 in Plainfield, New Jersey, and died September 15, 1980 from several illnesses. He had a history of drug addiction in adulthood.

Hancock was born in Chicago on April 12, 1940. Hancock, along with Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett and McCoy Tyner, is one of the primary influences on contemporary jazz piano. He came to prominence in the classic Miles Davis Quintet of 1963-'68. Hancock compositions have become jazz standards, including "Maiden Voyage," "Canteloupe Island," "Dolphin Dance" and "Speak Like A Child."

Jazz pianist.

James P. Johnson [also known as Jimmy Johnson] (February 1, 1894–November 17, 1955) was an American pianist and composer. Johnson was a pioneer of the stride style of jazz piano playing.

The jazz and bebop composer and pianist Thelonious Sphere Monk (Jr.) was born October 10, 1917, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and died of a stroke on February 17, 1982. He was treated for mental illness in his later years, although no official diagnosis was made, and he possibly was misdiagnosed and given incorrect medicines.

His wife Nellie Smith gave birth to two children: T.S. Monk III, nicknamed Toot, and daughter Barbara, nicknamed Boo-Boo, who died of cancer at age 31. Toot went on to become a jazz drummer.

In his honor, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz was established in 1982. Monk was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993, a special Pulitzer Prize in 2006, and was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009. His talent and influence on jazz is strong; in almost every "top 10 jazz musicians" lists, his name is included.

Oscar Peterson was born August 15, 1925 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and died December 23, 2007 from kidney failure, although he had suffered from several illnesses for a couple of decades.

Smooth jazz keyboard player.

Sir George Albert Shearing, Order of the British Empire, was born August 13, 1919 in Battersea, London, England, and died of heart failure on February 14, 2011, age 91.

He was born blind, began learning piano at age 3, and received only 4 years of music training at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind. He received two Grammy awards, several honorary degrees of Doctor of Music, and two Lifetime Achievement Honors. He was knighted in 2007. He was a truly prolific musician; his discography includes almost 100 recordings as band leader, plus another dozen as a sideman.

Jazz pianist and saxophonist (1914-1989); leader of the Billy Tipton Trio (later Quartet). Probably best known for the discovery after his death that he was born Dorothy and had been a woman living as a man for all of his adult life. While the cross-dressing probably began as a way to get work as a jazz musician, he later married several times and had three adopted sons, none of whom knew he was really a woman.

American jazz pianist (1919-1978).

Pianist born in Philadelphia in 1938.

Thomas "Fats" Waller (1904-1943) was a legendary stride piano player, jazz band leader and songwriter.