Customer Reviews

Bouncing with Bud

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Sweden,April 26,1962; it's been a long time since Bud Powell was in such an outstanding form.Sweedish musicians William Schiopffe,on drums, and Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass,are here backing Bud with talent;but what is amazing here is the freshness and incredibly youth of Bud's playing.At that time,Bud was only 38,but very sad and desperate years happened since his first recording sessions,and his playing here is miraculously intact.Medicines,electric shock treatments,sanatorium,and Buttercup's tiranny are mysteriously annihilated during this superior recording session,surely one of Bud's greatest.Bud swings with ferocity, as if he was twenty,as on his first recordings,on Verve or Blue Note."Bouncing with Bud" is absolutely terrific,and so are "Rifftide" (written by Monk and Coleman Hawkins),Denzil Best's "Move"(remember Miles' "Birth of the cool" ?),Irving Berlin's "the best thing for you is me",which Bud sometimes used to sing,Tadd Dameron's "Hot house" (listen to Tadd,one of Dexter Gordon's favorite musicians,and an immense composer),Benny Golson's "I remember Clifford"(written for Clifford Brown,who died at 26 in a car crash which also killed Bud's brother,pianist Richie Powell,who played with Cliff in Max Roach's band),and Monk's "straight no chaser" and "52nd Street theme".I hardly can describe the feelings of euphory and joy I have everytime I listen to Bud's playing on these tunes.This is piano playing at its highest level,a pure majesty,an incomparable feeling of perfection.Maybe it was Bud's last great session (he died in 1967,aged 43).I don't know, I like every session he did,just as Lester,or Billie,even if they were so sick that their playing or singing (why "or",singing is the most natural way of playing music,after all) was just a shadow of their past glory.And it is incredible that Bud could play that way,only three days after the disastrous recordings made at Stockholm's "Golden Circle" (five LPs on Steeplechase).Disastrous,but incredibly beautiful,just as Billie's "Lady in satin" session, or just as Lester's "Laughing to keep from crying" on Verve;or just as Paul Gonsalves' duet with Earl Hines on "Over the rainbow" (Black Lion Records);or Coleman Hawkins' "Supreme" album on Enja.On April 23,Bud played like if it was his last effort,and there was a strange mix of supreme beauty and total fall.Three days later,for this session,it seems like Bud has returned to the early fifties,recovering his mastery and technique.This is one of the highest moments in Bud's discography, so please don't miss it.

This is a studio session by Bud Powell, NOT a live recording. In this CD Bud Powell plays some terrific piano. You will find him swinging and improvising at length. This version of Bouncing of Bud turns me on everytime I listen to it. Bud's playing, indeed, is very emotional. This is music plenty of life, as only big masters like Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker or Bud himself, could create.

This album ranks there with the most brilliant piano performances in jazz, and I would prefer it to Bill Evans' Village Vanguard concerts.

Besides the music, the sound quality of the recording is very very good.

If you are a jazz piano aficionado, it will make your life more pleasant.