Bouncin' With Bud â Bud Powell
Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell didnât live beyond his 41st birthday, but he made a profound impact that can still be felt in contemporary jazz.Â
Born in Harlem in 1924. His father played stride piano, and Bud started classical piano lessons at the age of five. By ten, he was showing interest in swing music, playing at neighbourhood parties. By 1941, Powell was playing on the Harlem club circuit, and when he was invited to tour with Duke Ellington's former trumpeter, Cootie Williams, Powell hit the road with Williams' band.Â
In 1945, while on tour in Philadelphia, Powell was arrested on a charge of being drunk and disorderly. During the course of his arrest, he was brutally beaten by police. Powell was left incoherent and in great pain; when his condition didn't improve, he went from hospital to hospital and was eventually institutionalised.Â
In a later incident, Powell was hit on the head with a bottle in a bar fight, leading to another 11 months in a mental institution, where he underwent treatments of electro-convulsive therapy - a new technique being developed.Â
Powell was never the same afterwards, often wandering aimlessly. At the keyboard, however, Powell needed no help. Bud was one of the few musicians who could challenge Charlie Parker musically, and became a leading figure in the development of bebop, transposing the innovations of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie onto the piano, redrawing the course of modern jazz piano.
Bouncin' With Bud is a significant track from Powellâs first album, The Amazing Bud Powell, released in 1952 from recording sessions in 1949 and 1951. On this track you can hear Bud Powell on piano, Tommy Potter on bass, Roy Haynes on drums, a 19-year-old Sonny Rollins on tenor saxophone, and Fats Navarro on trumpet.
Bud Powell died of tuberculosis, malnutrition, and cirrhosis of the liver on July 31, 1966.