Customer Reviews

Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1

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1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you plan to invest in the complete "Amazing" series, then this is the place to start. Bud is the matrix of modern jazz piano, the Bird of the piano, the reason pianists began to speak about "blowing piano" rather than "playing" it.

On the other hand, if this is going to be your only disc representing Powell's inarguable genius, you may wish to consider a representative anthology. "The Definitive" and "The Ultimate Bud Powell" (compiled by Chic Corea) are both worthy collections, but the best bet is still the oop "The Best of Bud Powell: The Blue Note Years." Once you hear "Bud on Bach" you'll have a better understanding of the sublime baroque design of Bud's inventiveness at its apex.

I hesitate to suggest why Powell is so important--especially after reviewing another Powell recording and being chastized by subsequent reviewers for stopping short of complete idolatry of every aspect of his playing (maybe I'm monotheistic--jazz has traditionally recognized Art Tatum as the "God in the House"). Without commenting on his harmonic progressions and left-hand voicings, I feel safe in making the following claim: no pianist's right hand has combined such a lightning-fast, limitless melodic imagination with an equally impressive, dazzling yet flowing, rhythmic complexity. To listen to the brilliance of the playing on "Parisian Thoroughfare," only to have the self-critical Powell stop mid-stream and instruct the engineers to "cut it," is a supremely insightful moment into the mind of a superior creative being.

If the above is controversial because it's insufficient in its praise, I'm cheered that there are still listeners who care enough about Bud to insist on his deification. His music is certainly deserving of continued respect if not reverence.

This recording demonstrates the truly amazing talent that Bud Powell had both as an improvisor and as a composer of classic jazz standards. He is accompanied by a fine band featuring a young Sonny Rollins and the incredible Fats Navarro on trumpet. The ensemble playing is excellent with breakneck tempos and complex rhythmic changes. On Un Poco Loco Powell plays off of Max Roach's latin tinged drumming in a duet that by itself would be worth the price of this CD. Roach is always amazing but this tune is one I can listen to again and again. This CD deserves a place in any jazz collection. A true master at the height of his powers accompanied by great musicians on their way to becoming legends.

The quintet session is so immortal and lavished with analysis, none is necessary here. In spite of the almost universal thought that this is "it"---the ultimate Powell recording that exemplies the artist, I say, think again. His entire career, and the myriad of periods and changes in his style, should be appreciated. As a lifelong Powell collector and student, I strongly recommend first-timers to Powell to start with the early Verve, Roost and Blue Note trios before coming around to this magnificent set, which includes the quintets as well as the handful of trio numbers such as "You Go to My Head" (one of Powell's greatest ballad recordings). ("The Complete 1947-1951 Blue Note, Verve and Roost" is a box set that captures most of his finest work.)

Tracks 1 - 11: Fats Navarro - trumpet, Sonny Rollins - tenor sax, Bud Powell - piano, Tommy Potter - bass, Roy Haynes - drums. Recorded in 1949.

Tracks 12 - 20: Bud Powell - piano, Curley Russell - bass, Max Roach - drums. Recorded in 1951.

What can really be said about this album? It's almost easier to write about bad music than it is about great music. The whole higher purpose of music (with or without lyrics) is to express that which words cannot do justice, so how can anyone truly do any justice to great music by talking about it? I can't, but I try... if only for the sake of helping other people buy (or not) this or that disc.

Bud and friends are absolutely killin here! One the one hand, the larger band tracks have a certain lovelyness to them simply because everyone shines. Having Fats and Sonny there adds a whole different feel to the music, and more variety. You know there is a whole lot of melody going on with Fats and Sonny there! Of course there is also something to be said for the lean trio format of the later tracks. Being the featured soloist, Bud has more time and room to work with and stretch out, and he certainly knew how to make the most of it. This trio is brilliant, to put it bluntly.

On a later disc like Time Waits, Bud is a little off. Not off-off, really, but more like... Ragged but Right. He could still do it, but you can tell he was having to work for it. Here though, on Amazing Powell Volume 1... it doesn't sound like he's working for anything. He just has it. All of it. It's just flowing out of him like sweat.

Bud was a brilliant musician and it's dripping out of him on this disc.

More than fifty years have passed since this incredible music was waxed.I can't believe it.The first session (Aug.8,1949) includes Fats Navarro on trumpet,a very young Sonny Rollins on tenor sax,Tommy Potter on bass and the great Roy Haynes on drums."Fat Girl" has great choruses on trumpet,and the twenty years old Rollins shows that he'll soon be the boss.Bud's tunes are bop's classics now ("wail","bouncing with Bud","dance of the infidels").But the quintet also plays Bird ("ornithology"),Monk ("52nd Street theme") and a magnificent standard ("you go to my head" ).The second session (May 1,1951) is a trio with Curley Russell and Max Roach. Again,a bunch of masterpieces: JImmy Van Heusen's "it could happen to you",Dizzy's "night in Tunisia",Howard Arlen's "over the rainbow", Bud's "parisian thoroughfare" and "un poco loco".Make no mistake,this cd contains some of the greatest stuff ever recorded .THis is bop at its highest level,and listening to it makes me feel like jumping to Tadd Dameron's music.Rudy Van Gelder's remastering of these tracks is great, and for the first time, the tunes appear in the order of the recording sessions.There are nine alternate tracks in this cd. Don't miss this reissue.

I just want to say that I find it astounding that anybody with ears would find Powell's subvocalisations reason enough to give this CD 1 out of 5. As with Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme, if you like jazz, you'll like this album. Simple as that.

I may be sentimental about Bud Powell, because he was the first jazz musician I ever listened to. The 80s vinyl version of this album was the first jazz recording I ever bought, as a teenager. Nevertheless, I was lucky, in that my first serious exposure to jazz was to the work of a genius at the peak of his form.

Jazz musicians have long regarded Powell as one of the true founding fathers of bebop, along with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk, so his relative obscurity to the general public remains a bit of a mystery. Perhaps it's because while Powell left many recordings of stunning power and impact, he also made a lot of sessions when he wasn't at his best. His discography is more inconsistent than some of his peers because of the mental problems that plagued him from before his recording career began, but his finest recordings display a master improviser and gifted composer who seemed to be able to do whatever he wanted to do with a piano.

Powell's signature is an exhilarating sense of freedom and seemingly unending imagination; he is the guy who defies the jazz-school maxim that you shouldn't play phrases longer than you can physically breathe. Powell once commented that pianists had it better than sax players because they didn't have to take breaths, but he was able to pull off his amazingly long lines because his architectural sense was so sure and certain - at his best, he knows exactly how to shape a line, even if when he starts one, he doesn't totally know how he's going to end it. But if his right hand is extraordinary his left hand is no less, fashioning his characteristically dark chord voicings and providing a constant, sardonic commentary to the exuberant explorations of his other hand.

There is more to Bud than is found on his first two Blue Note albums. For Verve, he would record two of his greatest performances: his furiously shredding version of 'Tea for Two' and his bleak, blasted, hymnic take on 'It Never Entered My Mind'. (Truly an extraordinary rendition, if you'll pardon the wordplay.) But on volumes 1 and 2 of 'The Amazing Bud Powell', the listener truly gets to hear why Bud Powell was amazing.

This is simply a great recording. The re-issue is warm, rich and a needed improvement over the original CD release. A nice companion to Keith Jarrett's Facing You and Bill Evans' Conversations with Myself, this album is sure to please any fan of Jazz piano. This is Bud Powell at his best; his one-hand horn are exciting, powerful while maintaining a sense of riskyness and often teeter on the edge of collapse - but of course, they never do. Bud always lands on his two feet. The sidemen on this date are also in good form.

Be sure to check out Vol. 2.

I'm fairly new to jazz and still hunting for treasures. Bud Powell influenced my hero Bill Evans and came recommended by jazz piano guru Mark Levine, so he deserved a listen. First impressions of this CD (before listening) were mixed. Expecting just piano trio cuts, I found the presence of quintet cuts disappointing (until I heard them). Alternate takes are scattered about on the CD, so listening straight through original album cuts requires conscious effort. On the bright side, the liner notes are interesting and frank, unlike some of the gushing in some CD's. If anything, they linger too long on the sensational details of Bud's troubled personal life.

The CD has been digitally re-mastered and white noise hiss is virtually absent. The great horn players bury the piano a bit on the quintet tracks. The trio tracks sound brighter, with more prominent piano. Bud's moaning is particularly noticeable on the trio cuts.

Bud was an innovator of style and a master of technique, yet more tasteful to my ears than Monk, Gillespie and Parker when pushing the envelope. He kept a coherent attitude throughout a song, whether playing a simple ballad, a harmonically rich original, or an over-the-top standard interpretation. Whereas Monk might use dissonances to "startle", Bud seems to use them throughout a song to set a mood. On the twelve quintet cuts, Bud has great give-and-take with Rollins and Navarro. The Russell/Roach rhythm section takes up the slack from the horns in the trio selections. The trio tracks venture well beyond bop into some interesting new territory. Powell runs the gamut of styles and emotions, whether swinging with Parker or Gillespie tunes, settling into a sweet ballad, or pulling out all the stops for a positively manic Somewhere Over the Rainbow solo. This CD is a joy from start to finish - definitely a treasure.

GREAT CD. If you get any CD by Bud Powell, be sure to get either this one or the trio cd he did with Curly Russell and Max Roach with Bud's Bubble and I'll Remember April on it.

I need to say that Bud's compositions on this are amazing. Being a jazz pianist myself and learning these compositions, they are just full of originality and honesty. I think he is one of my favorite composers.