16 Facts About Richie Powell

Richard Powell was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

Richie Powell was not assisted in his musical development by Bud, his older and better known brother, but both played predominantly in the bebop style.

Richie Powell switched in the spring of 1954 to being pianist and arranger for the quintet co-led by trumpeter Clifford Brown and drummer Max Roach.

Richie Powell was beginning to achieve recognition at the time of his death, but he never had the chance to record as a leader.

Richie Powell had a playful piano style, and was fond of using musical quotations.

Richie Powell was born in New York City on September 5,1931.

Richie Powell was the youngest of three sons, after William, Jr.

One account of why Richie Powell took up the piano is that he pestered drummer Max Roach, who lived nearby, for drum lessons, and Roach, eventually fed up, suggested that he play the piano instead.

Richie Powell studied music with Mary Lou Williams, and attended the City College of New York.

From 1949 to 1951, Richie Powell worked around Philadelphia and New York City.

Richie Powell then played in the bands of Paul Williams and Johnny Hodges.

Richie Powell played on a medley track for the Hodges album Used to Be Duke.

Richie Powell was with Hodges' band in Los Angeles in the spring of 1954 when Roach needed a new pianist for the quintet that he co-led with trumpeter Clifford Brown.

At the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1955 Richie Powell played with Roach and others as backing for Washington.

The third of his originals, "Richie Powell's Prances", was "a modal composition, with Brown and Rollins improvising on the scale rather than on the usual chord changes", a form popularized three years later by Miles Davis.

Richie Powell usually played as part of a rhythm section in ensembles, so there are few recorded examples of him in smaller bands.