Search - Artist/Band: Bud Powell

• Name: Bud Powell
• Birthday: 09/27/1924
• Birth Place: New York, NY
• Died: 07/31/1966
• Decades Active: 1940,1950,1960
• Genre: Jazz
• Styles: Bop
• Moods: Ambitious, Complex, Confident, Passionate, Playful, Rollicking, Searching, Sophisticated, Brash, Bright, Dramatic, Earnest, Earthy, Elaborate, Energetic, Exuberant, Freewheeling, Literate, Lively, Quirky, Rambunctious, Uncompromising, Uplifting, Urgent, Witty, Wry

Title	Release
Bud Powell [B.D. Jazz]	11/11/2008
Piano Interpretations/Blues in the Closet	08/04/2008
1953-1954	01/22/2008
The Best of Bud Powell [Universal]	12/15/2007
Bud Powell 57	12/11/2006
Jazz Piano Masters	04/28/2006
The Very Best	05/24/2005
Bebop Pianists	05/10/2005
1951-1953	11/16/2004
Plays His Own Compositions	11/16/2004
Eternity WA	11/09/2004
Complete Blue Note and Verve WA	08/03/2004
Genius of the Bebop Piano: 1944-1951	08/03/2004
Mordern Jazz Archive	05/25/2004
Bebop	04/27/2004
Blue Note Years, Vol. 3 WA	04/27/2004
Mad Bebop	03/09/2004
Piano Solos WA	12/01/2003
Parisian Thoroughfares	07/08/2003
Piano	12/23/2002
Just One of Those Things	12/02/2002
The Definitive Bud Powell WA	09/24/2002
Paris Sessions	07/09/2002
1949-1950 WA	10/02/2001
Complete: The Amazing Bud Powell WA	06/20/2001
Blue Garden Blues	2001
Bud's Bubble [Proper]	2001
I'll Keep on Loving You	2001
So Sorry Please	2001
Bud's Bubble: 1944/1947	09/12/2000
The Complete 1946-1949 Roost and Swing Masters WA	07/18/2000
Swedish Pastry	01/01/2000
Young Bud	08/11/1999
Genius of Modern Piano: 1947-1957	11/24/1998
1945-1947 WA	10/06/1998
Ultimate Bud Powell	02/24/1998
Early Birds	04/22/1997
Cleopatra's Dream	12/04/1996
Pianology	12/14/1995
The Best of Bud Powell on Verve WA	08/23/1994
Compact Jazz: Bud Powell	1993
The Best of Bud Powell	11/22/1989
Summer Sessions	05/1973
In Paris	1972
Award at Birdland (1964)	10/01/1964
Return to Birdland (1964) WA	09/1964
Salt Peanuts	08/1964
Blues for Bouffemont WA	07/31/1964
Tribute to Thelonious (1964)	02/1964
Ups and Downs	1964
Bud Powell in Paris	02/1963
Writin' for Duke (1963)	02/1963
Strictly Confidential	1963
Budism	04/1962
A Portrait of Thelonious WA	12/17/1961
A Tribute To Cannonball	12/15/1961
Relaxin' at Home (1961-1964)	1961
Bud in Paris WA	12/12/1959
Time Waits: The Amazing Bud Powell WA	05/24/1958
Bud Plays Bird WA	10/14/1957
The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 3: Bud!	08/03/1957
Swingin' with Bud	02/11/1957
Strictly Powell	10/05/1956
Time Was	10/05/1956
Blues in the Closet	09/13/1956
Piano Interpretations by Bud Powell	04/25/1955
The Lonely One	01/13/1955
The Genius of Bud Powell, Vol. 2	06/02/1954
Autumn Sessions	09/1953
Inner Fires	04/05/1953
Charles Mingus Trios	03/1953
In March with Mingus	03/1953
Burning in the USA (1953-1955)	1953
The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2 WA	05/01/1951
Bud Powell's Moods	07/1950
Jazz Giant WA	1950
The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 4 WA	1950
The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1	08/08/1949
The Genius of Bud Powell WA	05/1949
Bud Powell Trio Plays	01/10/1947
Jazz Profile, Vol. 8	01/10/1947
My Devotion	01/1947
Shaw Nuff	1945
Early Years of a Genius (1944-1948)	01/1944

One of the giants of the jazz piano, Bud Powell changed the way that virtually all post-swing pianists play their instruments. He did away with the left hand striding that had been considered essential earlier and used his left hand to state chords on an irregular basis. His right often played speedy single-note lines, essentially transforming Charlie Parker's vocabulary to the piano (although he developed parallel to "Bird").

Tragically, Bud Powell was a seriously ill genius. After being encouraged and tutored to an extent by his friend Thelonious Monk at jam sessions in the early '40s, Powell was with Cootie Williams' orchestra during 1943-1945. In a racial incident, he was beaten on the head by police; Powell never fully recovered and would suffer from bad headaches and mental breakdowns throughout the remainder of his life. Despite this, he recorded some true gems during 1947-1951 for Roost, Blue Note, and Verve, composing such major works as "Dance of the Infidels," "Hallucinations" (also known as "Budo"), "Un Poco Loco," "Bouncing With Bud," and "Tempus Fugit." Even early on, his erratic behavior resulted in lost opportunities (Charlie Parker supposedly told Miles Davis that he would not hire Powell because "he's even crazier than me!"), but Powell's playing during this period was often miraculous.

A breakdown in 1951 and hospitalization that resulted in electroshock treatments weakened him, but Powell was still capable of playing at his best now and then, most notably at the 1953 Massey Hall Concert. Generally in the 1950s his Blue Notes find him in excellent form, while he is much more erratic on his Verve recordings. His warm welcome and lengthy stay in Paris (1959-1964) extended his life a bit, but even here Powell spent part of 1962-1963 in the hospital. He returned to New York in 1964, disappeared after a few concerts, and did not live through 1966.

In later years, Bud Powell's recordings and performances could be so intense as to be scary, but other times he sounded quite sad. However, his influence on jazz (particularly up until the rise of McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans in the 1960s) was very strong and he remains one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide