First of all, forget the obvious like Thelonius Monk.
I'll limit my suggestions to five wunderkinds & pray that you can take the best advice going...
Art Tatum
Bud Powell
Herbie Hancock
McCoy Tyner
Brad Mehldau (more recent)
All of them are virtuoso jazz piano players & all of them have solo work available. As far as playing with bands, buy Tatum's the Complete Pablo Sessions, the Ultimate Bud Powell, Hancock's Empyrean Isles, Tyner's The Real McCoy & Mehldau Trio's Something Else.
Count Basie deemed Art Tatum "the eighth wonder of the world."
Bud Powell is esteemed as the best ever by many in the jazz world, although Lennie Tristano still has his die-hard advocates for his famous, one-of-a-kind "Lennie lines" & his unique way he can play blocked-out chords.
As for Hancock, his best work is his playing with Miles band & his early solo work in the sixties. Herbie was playing Mozart in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age eleven. Now, there were lots of concert pianists in that city I'm sure that wanted that job, but it was given to young Hancock. If that doesn't tell you something, then I simply cannot assist you because your mind is closed.
If you cannot leap all the way into some great jazz, then get some Lennie Tristano (Cross Current) or Sal Mosca (
http://www.salmosca.com/salripped.htm) because they play improvisational jazz piano with a lot of classical piano influence.
a post from a couple of weekends ago:
I watched an svcd today from Berlin '65. It's a piano workshop that features musicians like Earl
Hines, Teddy Wilson, Lennie Tristano, Bill Evans & Jaki Byard all taking turns at the grand pianos doing improvs, playing duets, etc. as the band (which features NHOP on upright bass) plays.