5 Narrative Solo Piano Albums You Should Know

1. An Ancient Observer — Tigran Hamasyan

Tigran Hamasyan's An Ancient Observer blends Armenian folk influences with progressive jazz to create a journey which shifts between haunting melodies and heavy, complex rhythmic interplay.

Like many of his albums, Hamasyan draws on strong narratives themes from start to end, and he frames the album as a reflection on the interaction of "deep history" with our hyper-technological present day. In his words, the album's songs are "musical observations about the world we live in now, and the weight of history we carry with us."

2. Elegiac Cycle — Brad Mehldau

Brad Mehldau’s Elegiac Cycle is a collection of reflection centered on themes of grief, memories, and mortality. While Mehldau comes from deep within the jazz tradition, this album draw on the style of Romantic classical music from composers such as Schumann and Chopin.

In his album notes, Brad Mehldau critiques modern society's attempts to distract us from the reality of death, arguing for the importance of confronting our own mortality and its role in opening us up to celebrate the life in front of us. Mehldau explains that he drew from both literary themes and structures in the composition of these pieces, weaving the opening motif in and through the record as a reference to the cyclical nature of life and death.

3. Esja — Hania Rani

Approaching neo-classical piano through an ambient and minimalist lens, Hania Rani's Esja is a collection of stark yet beautiful soundscapes. The album was named after Mt. Esja in Reykjavik, and Hania Rani cites the landscapes around her as as a significant influence on her work.

Regarding Esja, Hania Rani shares, "In my own subjective way, I try to reinterpret the capabilities of its sound and harmonies, observing the way in which it resonates within a compact room space and translating, into the language of keys and hammers, the melodies I overheard on the road — most significantly, during my travels to Iceland and the Bieszczady Mountains in south-eastern Poland.”

4. San Juan Suites I & II — Michael Gettel

In San Juan Suites I & II, Michael Gettel captures a striking portrait of the San Juan Islands, imbued with the unmistakable New Age signature of the Narada Classics era. In the double-album, he layers sounds of the islands, including humpback whales and orcas, with striking melodies and repetitive, often wave-like left hand accompaniments.

Michael Gettel noted that many of the songs were inspired by his summer boating trips in the region, and many of the tracks draw their names from specific landmarks across the islands. San Juan Suites feel like an immersive journey into the artist's experience of a unique place and time.

5. The Köln Concert — Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert is one of the most iconic solo piano albums ever recorded, and to this day, the top-selling piano album of all time. Beyond that fact it was fully-improvised from start to end, the backstory of the concert makes it even more striking.

At the time of recording, Jarrett was coming off of a long tour, dealing with little sleep and chronic back pain; and the only slot available for a jazz concert at the opera house was 11:30pm. Instead of the piano he requested, the venue provided Jarrett with a small baby grand with a number of mechanical issues. Although Jarrett almost backed out of the performance, he instead chose to adapt to the constraints of the instrument, creating something legendary which could have only been born from that moment in time.