Piano Pioneers: 20 Black Musicians Who Also Excelled As Pianists

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The sound of a piano can be transcending. From genre to genre, the infectiously soothing and sometimes even heartbreaking melody of keys being depressed alongside the simultaneous strike of strings has kept us in a musical chokehold since the early 18th century.

Now in the 21st century, the piano has developed in ways that are completely shifting the technique in how the talented individuals who call themselves pianists are able to create those sounds that can easily tug at our own heartstrings. We got a cool reminder not too long ago by way of Casio as they celebrated the 20th anniversary of its fan-favorite Privia digital piano.

As you can see below with the new PX-S7000, they’re celebrating the occasion with one seriously clean set of keys.

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The festivities got us thinking about various times throughout Black music history where the piano played a significant role in the hit-making process. NYC rap king Nas and producer Salaam Remi for example transformed the centuries-old classic of “Für Elise” by Ludwig Van Beethoven into an uplifting banger in the early 2000s with his God’s Son single, “I Can,” by way of an unforgettable piano sample. Part of the appeal that even gave pop queen Adele crossover appeal in recent times has been those soul-baring ballads that often are accompanied by just her powerhouse voice and a piano playing. However, to really make the point clear, all you’ve got to do is look at how the grand (or upright!) instrument has created generations of our favorite Black music icons.

From Alicia to Nina, Stevie to Johnny — Legend, that is! — Lenny to Lionel and a handful of pioneers in-between that even precede those aforementioned legends by decades, there are many examples of Black musicians who excelled as pianists as well. We put together a list of the grand greats for your listening pleasure, and we highly recommend using this as a starting point to do some digging in the crates on your own time and discover even more into this influential corner of our culture.