Un Poco Loco [Alternate Take #1] - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Un Poco Loco [Alternate Take #2] - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Un Poco Loco - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Over the Rainbow - Bud Powell, Arlen, Harold
Track Listings (23) - Disc #2
A Night in Tunisia - Bud Powell, Gillespie, Dizzy
A Night in Tunisia [Take] - Bud Powell, Gillespie, Dizzy
It Could Happen to You [Take] - Bud Powell, Burke, Johnny [Lyri
It Could Happen to You - Bud Powell, Burke, Johnny [Lyri
Parisian Thoroughfare - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Autumn in New York - Bud Powell, Duke, Vernon
Reets and I - Bud Powell, Harris, Benny [Trum
Reets and I [Take] - Bud Powell, Harris, Benny [Trum
Sure Thing - Bud Powell, Gershwin, Ira
Collard Greens and Black Eyed Peas [Alternate Take] - Bud Powell, Pettiford, Oscar
Collard Greens and Black Eyed Peas - Bud Powell, Pettiford, Oscar
Polka Dots and Moonbeams - Bud Powell, Burke, Johnny [Lyri
I Want to Be Happy - Bud Powell, Caesar, Irving
Audrey - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Glass Enclosure - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Embraceable You - Bud Powell, Gershwin, George
Burt Covers Bud - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
My Heart Stood Still - Bud Powell, Hart, Lorenz
You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To - Bud Powell, Porter, Cole
Bags' Groove - Bud Powell, Jackson, Milt
My Devotion - Bud Powell, Hillman, Roc
Stella by Starlight - Bud Powell, Washington, Ned
Woody 'N You - Bud Powell, Gillespie, Dizzy
Track Listings (14) - Disc #3
Blue Pearl - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Blue Pearl [Take] - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Keepin' in the Groove - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Some Soul - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Frantic Fancies - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Bud on Bach - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Idaho - Bud Powell, Stone, Jesse
Don't Blame Me - Bud Powell, Fields, Dorothy
Moose the Mooche - Bud Powell, Parker, Charlie [Sa
John's Abbey [Take] - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Sub City [Take] - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Sub City - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
John's Abbey [Take] - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Buster Rides Again - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Track Listings (15) - Disc #4
Dry Soul - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Marmalade - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Monopoly - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Time Waits - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Scene Changes - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Down With It - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Comin' Up [Take] - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Comin' Up - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Duid Deed - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Cleopatra's Dream - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Gettin' There - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Crossin' There - Bud Powell,
Crossin' the Channel - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Danceland - Bud Powell, Powell, Bud
Boderick - Bud Powell,
Consider 1994 a banner year for Bud Powell reissues, with two comprehensive sets covering most of his American studio recordings. This four-CD set collects Powell's 1947 session for Roost and his Blue Note recordings from ... more »1949 to 1958, with a final leap ahead to 1963 for a single trio track. Powell's mercurial genius is most apparent in the early sessions. The eight Roost tracks, with Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums, are stunning demonstrations of Powell's flying right-hand runs, knotting harmonic complexity, and tempestuous invention, including an early recording of "Off Minor" that shows Powell's grasp of Thelonious Monk's music. A 1949 quintet session has a teenaged Sonny Rollins in the frontline with trumpeter Fats Navarro for some Powell originals, and there are multiple trio takes of "Un Poco Loco" and "A Night in Tunisia" from 1951, in which each version seems somehow to exceed the manic energy of the preceding one. The final two CDs come from 1957-58, years when Powell had moderated his style, slowing down the infernal runs and working on a probing, more Monk-like, approach that often emphasized ballads and blues. Playing recent originals like "John's Abbey" and "Time Waits" in the company of some great rhythm players--bassists Paul Chambers and Sam Jones and drummers Philly Joe Jones and Art Taylor--Powell seems to find a new voice, a concentrated lyricism that tests the piano's emotive power. The five-CD Complete Bud Powell on Verve, which concentrates on Powell's recordings from the early to mid-1950s, is an important companion. --Stuart Broomer« less
Consider 1994 a banner year for Bud Powell reissues, with two comprehensive sets covering most of his American studio recordings. This four-CD set collects Powell's 1947 session for Roost and his Blue Note recordings from 1949 to 1958, with a final leap ahead to 1963 for a single trio track. Powell's mercurial genius is most apparent in the early sessions. The eight Roost tracks, with Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums, are stunning demonstrations of Powell's flying right-hand runs, knotting harmonic complexity, and tempestuous invention, including an early recording of "Off Minor" that shows Powell's grasp of Thelonious Monk's music. A 1949 quintet session has a teenaged Sonny Rollins in the frontline with trumpeter Fats Navarro for some Powell originals, and there are multiple trio takes of "Un Poco Loco" and "A Night in Tunisia" from 1951, in which each version seems somehow to exceed the manic energy of the preceding one. The final two CDs come from 1957-58, years when Powell had moderated his style, slowing down the infernal runs and working on a probing, more Monk-like, approach that often emphasized ballads and blues. Playing recent originals like "John's Abbey" and "Time Waits" in the company of some great rhythm players--bassists Paul Chambers and Sam Jones and drummers Philly Joe Jones and Art Taylor--Powell seems to find a new voice, a concentrated lyricism that tests the piano's emotive power. The five-CD Complete Bud Powell on Verve, which concentrates on Powell's recordings from the early to mid-1950s, is an important companion. --Stuart Broomer
CD Reviews
The essential Powell
lexo-2 | 12/07/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This set comprises all four or so volumes of The Amazing Bud Powell, the first two discs of which were Powell's first albums as a leader and which undoubtedly represent his finest recorded work. The later discs are sometimes boggy and inept; that's the risk with consuming Powell in large quantities. The booklet is okay, but put to shame by the vast and compendious tome provided with the Verve boxed set of Powell (perhaps to make up for the fact that a lot of the music in the Verve set was distinctly substandard). For my money, Powell never played better than he did on these recordings."
Bud Powell At His Finest
twinky@start.com.au | Canberra, Australia | 06/17/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This four CD set represents all of the recordings that Bud Powell made for Blue Note and Roost Records between 1947 and 1963. The music presented is generally in a trio format, with many Powell originals amoungst the choice standards. When compared with Powell's later recordings with Verve Records, this set proves be far superior musically. Powell plays with spirited conviction throughout the entire set with very pleasing results. His interpretation of "bop" jazz was (and still is) definitive, with his unique chord voicings and composing. Take for example Powell's compositions "Bud's Bubble" and "Un Poco Loco", both of these perfectly illustrate bop piano in an almost flawless manner. From this set it also evident that Powell could swing as hard as anyone in the business (for example, "Buster Rides Again").Overall, this set represents Bud Powell at his finest. Never did he play any better than what is presented on the Blue Note recordings. Backed by the likes of Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums many of the tunes stand as definitive versions. I must however, state that the recording quality throughout the set is somewhat distracting in places. The earlier dates especially carry a lot of background noise and detract from the overall experience. Also the sheer bulk of the music does tend to become a little repetative at times making listening for long periods a little hard. Other than these minor complaints however, this set stands as the best and most consistant documentation of Bud Powell and his playing. Recommended."
There is no such thing as too much Bud Powell
Robert D. Glover Jr. | Linden, NJ USA | 01/17/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"These Bud Powell CD's get better with subsequent listenings. The genius of Bud Powell is of such depth that one or two listenings only begins to scratch the surface. I feel the same about the complete Blue Note Bud Powell collection. (I recommend both.) One simply cannot own too much Bud Powell. I urge Bud Powell fans to read Bud Powell's biography, Dance of the Infidels : A Portrait of Bud Powell by Francis Paudras. It may be hard to get, but it's well worth the effort. Bud's piano genius is all the more astounding when one learns of the hard life he led and the indignities he suffered."
Absolute genius
Robert D. Glover Jr. | 07/10/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Bud Powell was a giant, an innovator who equalled or surpassed Charlie Parker, and a pianist who rivalled Art Tatum technically and created a new pianistic language that has been watered down and aped by every jazz pianist to follow. There is no such thing as "too much of a good thing" if the thing is Bud Powell's recorded history. Powell remains underappreciated to this day, and his contributions to music---and human achievement---deserve all of our time. This wonderful collection, along with the "Complete Bud Powell on Verve", is essential to own and savor. Both box sets follow Powell from the pinnacle (which the Roost trios represent), when his speed, articulation and improvisations could not be matched, through the less consistent later recordings in which Powell's play simplified and occasionally stumbled (through no fault of his own). But just as legions of followers respect and applaud the flawed recordings of late period Charlie Parker as he died (literally) in front of the mike, so should we respect Bud Powell in his later incarnations. Take the time, and you will find gems even his final albums such as "Duid Deed", as earthy a blues as you will ever hear. An even more complete collection, the import The Complete 1947-1951 Blue Note, Verve and Roost Recordings (on Jazz Factory) also offers Powell at his peak."
Track Listings (21) - Disc #1