If you’re a fan of jazz piano, look for the following people to make it big in the music business:

Kris Davis

A thirty-one year old from Alberta, Canada, Kris has taken the American jazz scene by storm. She plays with a unique style that includes a lot of space and tension, and has changed her style to a more dramatic and contemporary form of jazz.

She has toured with a variety of famous jazz artists; including Ingrid Laubrock, Jeff Davis and Tony Malaby. She also completed a recent tour to Portugal, and has released a number of well-received albums.

David Virelles

David Virelles, a twenty-seven year old from Cuba, currently lives in New York. He began learning piano at an early age and was a highly talented composer during is high school years.

David currently plays piano for his own group called “Continuum” and incorporates a variety of computer-generated beats into his tracks. Other players that are currently performing with him are Ben Street, Andrew Cyrille and Jonathan Finlayson.

If you’re trying to track down the jazz greats and their music, here are a few places you should consider looking:

1.) Television. No joke. Depending on the provider you have, there could be dozens of jazz music channels playing nothing but jazz. We’re not talking about so-called MTV, either. Services like Cable.TV have hundreds of music channels – perhaps as many as there are music genres.

2.) The Internet. Stuff like iTunes is perfect for tracking down the jazz greats from both past and present. These sites are also great because they can point you in the direction of other jazz masters you might not have heard about.

3.) Satellite Radio. Much like how some television providers have specialized channels for different genres, the same can be said for satellite radio services. It’s worth a look.

One such visionary is Roy Hargrove. Hargrove has been a professional jazz trumpet player for over two decades. The musician hails from Dallas and moved to Boston at the age of 18 to attend Berklee College of Music. He only spent one year there before he was pulled to New York because of the potential to work more. Since then, Roy Hargrove has exploded on the jazz scene making great records in the traditional jazz combo formats as well as funky fusion records with his group RH Factor. If you are looking to find a great voice in the jazz community today Roy Hargrove is a great place to start.

The east coast has the lion’s share of great jazz legends like Duke Ellington. Confused? Here‘s a little help . But, you may be surprised how many great jazz legends hail from the Midwest. Two of the most influential musicians in jazz history come from the Midwest. Miles Davis, who changed the sound of jazz probably 3 or 4 times during the course of his career, is from St. Louis. Charlie Parker, widely considered the greatest alto sax player of all time and one of the inventors of bebop, is from Kansas City. Many great horn players and other musicians came out of the Kansas City and St. Louis in the middle part of the 20th century. When looking into great jazz legends you need to look past the east coast and get to the heart of the country for some true gems of the genre.

Musicians like Sun Ra consider their music to be a healing power for the mind, body and soul. Sun Ra has created a style that is both spiritual and technically impressive. Other musicians have followed in his footsteps in the attempt to further widen the impact of jazz music. John Coltrane is one of the most recognized names in jazz history. He began by playing the more traditional jazz of the times, but eventual went on to create albums considered cosmic by many people.

Jazz music is one of the most impressive modern styles to come out in the last one hundred years. Many people have been influenced by the music in more ways that one. Traditional, Experimental and even Bebop have all created unique cultural sounds that every music lover can appreciate. If you have never given jazz a chance, it can be one of the most rewarding musical adventures worth experiencing in your lifetime.

You can now find influences from just about every genre of music leaked into the jazz music of today. This makes sense because today’s jazz musician didn’t grow up listening to just jazz and classical music like many of the musicians in the earlier part of the 20th century. It is easier to access all kinds of music therefore all that music is being melted together. If you are looking for good modern jazz the key is to find an artist like trumpeter Roy Hargrove that plays in modern styles but with a commitment to keeping some of the melodic and harmonic traditions found in the jazz style alive.