Here Powell floors the gas pedal, apparently trying to take the tempo to its limits-it sounds as though the pianist is engaged in a race with the virtuoso drummer-on a thrilling version of ‘Tea for Two.’ These tracks possessed an odd, almost paradoxical quality, conveying a sense of mastery, yet also sounding as though they are on the brink of spinning out of control. “A session from the following year finds Roach replaced by Buddy Rich. (The Norton Jazz Collection)īud Powell, Ray Brown, & Buddy Rich Trio. (Bud Powell-p, Ray Brown-b, Max Roach-d). The darkly colored ‘Tempus Fugue-It’ is a tempestuous performance that nonetheless suggests Powell’s witting familiarity with Baroque polyphony and the Latin proverb Tempus Fugit” – Gary Giddens & Scott DeVeaux A dazzlingly fast and boldly harmonized ‘Cherokee’ visited and challenged territory previously claimed by Charlie Parker, while the easygoing ‘Celia’ (dedicated to his infant daughter) explored the gentle side of bop, combining relaxed triplets and his canny use of syncopated rests. Difficult as it may be to imagine musical creativity taking place under these conditions, Powell seemed untouchably inspired, ready to display not only his pianistic fancy but also his talent as a composer … On the 1949 sessions, accompanied by Ray Brown and Roach, he turned out a number of masterpieces. It was a brief window, as he soon returned to Creedmore for more treatment. He had just emerged from Creedmore Sanatorium, where he had been incarcerated for several months, and was raring to make a record for Clef. “Early 1949 was a good time for Bud Powell. (Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz, Smithsonian Collection of Jazz Piano) (Bud Powell-p, Curly Russell-b, Max Roach-d). Watching him perform with his eyes closed, it seemed as if the music came directly out of him rather than out of the piano.” – Dick Katz from the notes for Smithsonian Collection of Jazz Piano Love, anger, frustration, joy, reflection, even terror were all revealed through his fingers. “Words like intense, awesome and driven apply to Bud Powell more than to any other pianist … indeed his playing sometimes bordered on the demonic. These versions of “Off Minor” and “Epistrophy” are the first recordings of these tunes and Monk never even recorded the “52nd Street Theme.” Not only was Powell recording Monk’s compositions at a time when Monk was little known, at times, he recorded Monk’s music before the composer himself. The beginning of his own solo sounds like a match igniting.” – Gary Giddens “He transforms The Street into a carnival, echoing the theme with brilliantly impetuous piano fills, milking the release, and having Navarro extend the theme’s final riff well into Rollins’s solo. (Fats Navarro-tp, Sonny Rollins-ts, Bud Powell-p, Tommy Potter-b, Roy Haynes-d). Not recorded by Monk for almost two years.ĥ2nd Street Theme. (Kenny Dorham-tp, Fats Navarro-tp, Sonny Stitt-as, Ray Abrams-ts, Eddie DeVerteuil-bs, Bud Powell-p, John Collins-g, Al Hall-b). Recorded 10 months before Monk’s own version.Įpistrophy. In return, Powell showed a stubborn loyalty to Monk’s music, featuring the knotty ‘Off Minor’ on his first recording session in 1947, and returning to his compositions throughout his life.” – Gary Giddens & Scott DeVeaux ‘Nobody understood what he was playing.’ He may have intuited that the brilliant pianist was best suited to interpret his own challenging compositions. “As a teenager, he frequented Minton’s Playhouse, where Thelonious Monk spotted his talents” ‘I was the only one who dug him,’ Monk once said. While his left hand played a neutral backdrop of chords, his right hand would explode into a blindingly intricate improvisatory cascade, rivaling (and even surpassing) Parker and Gillespie in rhythmic imagination.” – Gary Giddens & Scott DeVeaux In other words there is jazz piano Before Powell and After Powell. Long after bop had faded, Powell remained a source of inspiration for pianists as varied as the harmonically engrossed Bill Evans and the rhythmically unfettered Cecil Taylor. His ingenious technique and originality as an improviser and composer established the foundation for all pianists to follow. “It would be hard to overstate Powell’s impact. Mentored by Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell became the first great piano innovator of bebop.
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