The Best Women Jazz Pianists

Jazz piano has a long history of leaving women out of the story — a fact the ranking behind this guide openly acknowledges. In The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time, jazz journalist Gene Rizzo could place only one woman, Mary Lou Williams, in his main fifty; he then profiled ten women separately, noting how sharply social convention once restricted jazz careers for women. This guide brings those ten players together, with their facts brought up to date.

This guide lists the ten women pianists Rizzo singled out, in a scannable table with corrected life dates, then gives a short profile of each and points you to scores you can play. It sits alongside our main guide to the best jazz pianists of all time.

The short answer: the women Rizzo highlights range from the composer-arranger Mary Lou Williams — the only woman in his main ranking — and the broadcaster Marian McPartland to living artists like Eliane Elias, Joanne Brackeen, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Renee Rosnes. Between them they span stride, bebop, post-bop, big-band writing and Brazilian jazz.

How this list came about

These names are Gene Rizzo's selection, published by Hal Leonard in 2005. Rather than fold the women into his main countdown, he gave them a section of their own — a choice he framed as a response to how long the business kept women out of professional jazz. We present the group as his, and we have added currency: several of these players have died since the book appeared, and those dates are corrected below.

The ten greatest women jazz pianists

The pianists, one by one

1. Mary Lou Williams (1910–1981) — The only woman in Rizzo's main Top 50 (at number 47), Williams was a composer and arranger whose writing shaped the bands of Andy Kirk, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington, and who mentored the founders of bebop. Read her full story in her profile.

2. Marian McPartland (1918–2013) — English-born and largely self-taught, McPartland led a celebrated trio at New York's Hickory House through the 1950s. For decades she hosted NPR's Piano Jazz, interviewing and duetting with generations of players — the show made her a jazz institution in her own right.

3. Eliane Elias (b. 1960) — A pianist and singer from São Paulo, Elias transcribed Art Tatum, Bud Powell and Erroll Garner before she was twelve. She came up with the fusion group Steps Ahead, then built a long Blue Note career fusing Brazilian music with American post-bop more seamlessly than almost anyone.

4. Jessica Williams (1948–2022) — A Peabody Conservatory prodigy, Williams left a vast recorded legacy — dozens of albums, often overdubbing her own bass and drums — yet stayed, in Rizzo's words, "a well-kept secret," partly by her own aversion to travel and self-promotion.

5. Joanne Brackeen (b. 1938) — Self-taught in bebop, Brackeen won the piano chair in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, then worked with Joe Henderson, Sonny Stitt and Stan Getz. Her impetuous, post-Bill Evans style, Rizzo argues, was unjustly neglected by the jazz press.

6. Barbara Carroll (1925–2017) — Benny Goodman chose Carroll for his short-lived 1948 bop combo. Over a long New York career — including a famous Bemelmans Bar residency — she refined Bud Powell and Art Tatum into elegant, polished trio jazz.

7. Dorothy Donegan (1922–1998) — Classically grounded and informally mentored by Art Tatum, Donegan loved to "swing the classics." A flamboyant performer, her vaudevillian showmanship sometimes obscured just how serious an improviser she was.

8. Lorraine Geller (1928–1958) — Geller came up through the all-woman International Sweethearts of Rhythm and became a fixture of the 1950s West Coast scene, playing with Shorty Rogers, Maynard Ferguson and Zoot Sims before her death at just 30.

9. Toshiko Akiyoshi (b. 1929) — Born in Manchuria to Japanese parents, Akiyoshi was discovered by Oscar Peterson in 1953. A Bud Powell disciple at the keyboard, she became one of jazz's most acclaimed big-band composers, blending Ellingtonian writing with traditional Japanese color.

10. Renee Rosnes (b. 1962) — Before her 1988 Blue Note leader debut, Rosnes had already recorded with Joe Henderson, J.J. Johnson and Wayne Shorter. Her post-bop draws on Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner as well as Native American and world-music sources.

Play their music

Several signature pieces by these pianists are open on MuseScore below, from Mary Lou Williams's big-band riff "Roll 'Em" to Toshiko Akiyoshi's orchestral writing. Start with a melody and build toward the harmony — and if you want the theory behind it, our guide to jazz chord progressions is the next step.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the greatest woman jazz pianist?

By Gene Rizzo's ranking, Mary Lou Williams stands apart — she is the only woman in his main list of fifty (at number 47), recognized as much for her composing and arranging as for her playing. Among the ten women he profiles separately, she is placed first.

Why are there so few women in jazz piano history?

Rizzo attributes it directly to social convention, which for decades restricted professional jazz careers for women. Many of the players here broke in through all-women groups like the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, or built careers in spite of the barriers rather than because the scene welcomed them.

Which of these women jazz pianists are still performing?

As of 2026, Eliane Elias, Joanne Brackeen, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Renee Rosnes are still living; Elias and Rosnes remain especially active as performers and recording artists.

Was Marian McPartland English?

Yes. She was born Margaret Marian Turner in Slough, England, in 1918, studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and moved to the United States after marrying the American cornetist Jimmy McPartland during World War II.