Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bud Powell was born Earl Rudolph Powell in New York City on September 27, 1924. Following a family musical legacy, his grandfather a flamenco guitarist, father a stride pianist, older brother William a trumpeter and younger pianist brother Richie, Bud learned classical piano from an early age and by age 8 became interested in jazz. Playing his own transcriptions of Art Tatum and Fats Waller, by 15 he was playing in William’s band. Thelonious Monk was an important early teacher, mentor and close friend who dedicated the composition “In Walked Bud” to him.

The early Forties saw Powell playing in a number of bands, including that of Cootie Williams, who had to become Powell’s guardian because of his youth. His first recording date was with Williams’ band in 1944 and this session produced the first ever recording of Monk’s “Round Midnight”. Monk also introduced him to the circle of bebop musicians starting to form at Minton’s Playhouse and playing on early recording sessions with Frank Socolow, Dexter Gordon, J. J. Johnson, Sonny Stitt, Fats Navarro and Kenny Clarke.

Powell soon became renowned for his ability to play accurately at fast tempos, his inspired bebop soloing, and his comprehension of the ideas that Charlie Parker had found from the chords of “Cherokee” and other song-forms. Powell’s first session as a leader was a trio setting in 1947 with Curly Russell and Max Roach and later recording on a Charlie Parker date with Miles, Max and Tommy Potter. Bud Powell is the most important pianist in jazz and one of the most underrated but his best work is on Blue Note and for Mercury, Norgran, Clef and later Verve Records under Norman Granz. His prolific career had him playing with a who’s who list of musicians like Buddy Rich, Ray Brown, Art Blakey, George Duvivier, Osie Johnson and so on. By the late fifties and into the 60s his playing was far removed from his earlier standard and his talent was in eclipse.

With his health deteriorating he was hospitalized after months of increasingly erratic behavior and self-neglect. Jazz pianist Bud Powell, described as one of “the two most significant pianists of the style of modern jazz that came to be known as bop”, died of tuberculosis, malnutrition, and alcoholism on July 31 1966 in New York City.

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