32 Facts About Bud Powell

Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell was an American jazz pianist and composer.

Bud Powell's virtuosity led many to call him the Charlie Parker of the piano.

Bud Powell was a composer, and many jazz critics credit his works and his playing as having "greatly extended the range of jazz harmony".

Bud Powell was born in Harlem, New York, United States.

Bud Powell started classical piano lessons at the age of five.

Bud Powell's teacher, hired by his father, was a West Indian man named Rawlins.

At 10 years of age, Bud Powell showed interest in the swing music that could be heard all over the neighborhood.

Bud Powell first appeared in public at a rent party, where he mimicked Fats Waller's playing style.

Bud Powell heard Art Tatum on the radio and tried to match his technique.

Bud Powell's younger brother, Richie Bud Powell, was a noted bebop pianist.

When Monk met Bud Powell he introduced Bud Powell to musicians who were starting to play bebop at Minton's Playhouse.

Monk's composition "In Walked Bud Powell" is a tribute to their time together in Harlem.

Bud Powell was engaged in a series of dance bands, his incubation culminating in becoming the pianist for the swing orchestra of Cootie Williams.

In late 1943 he was offered the chance to appear at a nightclub with the quintet of Oscar Pettiford and Dizzy Gillespie, but Bud Powell's mother decided he would continue with the more secure job with the popular Williams.

Bud Powell was the pianist on a handful of Williams's recording dates in 1944.

Bud Powell was beaten by them and incarcerated briefly by the city police.

Bud Powell remained there for two and a half months.

Bud Powell became known for his sight-reading and his skill at fast tempos.

Charlie Parker chose Bud Powell to be his pianist on a May 1947 quintet recording session with Miles Davis, Tommy Potter, and Max Roach; this was the only studio session in which Parker and Bud Powell played together.

Bud Powell was sent to Creedmoor State Hospital, where he spent eleven months.

Bud Powell adjusted to being in the hospital, though in psychiatric interviews he expressed feelings of persecution founded in racism.

Bud Powell recorded that summer for two independent producers, a session that resulted in eight masters.

Bud Powell recorded for Blue Note and Granz throughout the 1950s, interrupted by another stay in a psychiatric facility from late 1951 to early 1953 after being arrested for possession of heroin.

Bud Powell was released into the guardianship of Oscar Goodstein, owner of the Birdland nightclub.

Bud Powell had met Edwards directly after an incarceration in 1954.

Bud Powell's emotions became unbalanced, and he was hospitalized in New York after months of erratic behavior and self-neglect.

Bud Powell was given the last rites of the Catholic Church.

Bud Powell was influenced primarily by Thelonious Monk and Art Tatum.

Bud Powell's solos featured an attacking style similar to that of horn players, contained frequent arpeggios, and utilized much chromaticism.

Bud Powell's comping often consisted of single bass notes outlining the root and fifth.

Bud Powell used voicings of the root and the tenth or the root with the minor seventh.

The drummer Art Taylor, who is listed among the personnel on about a dozen Bud Powell recordings, elicited comments concerning Bud Powell from numerous musicians in his 1993 book of interviews, Notes and Tones.