Customer Reviews

Complete Bud Powell on Verve

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Everybody knows how good the early Verve stuff is ... which makes up about 30% of this set. Everybody has heard that the later Verve stuff is junk. So, having owned the early stuff on individual CDs, I was a little reluctant to pick this up.

Big mistake.

The later years, ranging from 1954 to 1956 include a wealth of very, very good material. Yes, there is some junk, but it can be passed over easily enough. Using the track by track analysis by Barry Harris (in the booklet) and Carl Smith's book on Bud, I was able to cull out a couple hours worth of wonderful material and burn it onto my own CDs.

My take-away is this. The early Verve is some of the best jazz piano on record. Maybe the best of the post-war era. But ... when you listen to stronger "later Verve" stuff, it stands up with the best of anything from say Horace Silver, Sonny Clark or Wynton Kelly. Frankly it is often better, because the genius never left Bud. The level of invention is still way high.

Highly recommended.

I want to dispel an illusions here. This set does NOT reflect Bud's decline, but Bud's GROWTH as an artist. Too many people have bought sheepishly into the common criticisms and have closed their ears. This box set is far superior to the Blue Note set, not a "supplement" (see above review). The first disc has all the dazzlingy brillaint early technique of his early carrear (though quite the bold experimentation of the first blue note disc). But in the 3rd 4rth discs, his technique, still in prime, is used les towards dazzling speed and more towards variety and expression. he is clearly listening to and influenced by Errol Garner and G. Shearing and Monk in a fascinating way here that one doesn't get at all in the blue note set. He is searching and experimental but always expressive and exciting. Listen to the abstract alt takes of i get a kick out of you or the lyricism of tenderly. He doesn;t reach these hights on ANY of the mid 50s Blue Note stuff. And yet people say he is stumbling!! listen again. ONly the very last set has him poorly articulating ("slurring") his phrases. BUt even here, with ray brown backing him, he has flashes of brilliance. This, along with O COleman's Beauty is a Rare thing, may be the best musical buy i ever made. I can only say: listen openly and judge for your self

Bud Powell was magnificent. A giant whose contribution to music matched and in many ways exceeded that of Charlie Parker. Yet, he is underappreciated to this day. This is a collection to savor, and essential for anyone wishing to understand not only the music but the man. Lovingly packaged with interviews with people who knew and played with Powell, and track by track analysis by Barry Harris and Michael Weiss, this set has all of the classic early Verves, and later recordings that chronicle Powell's decline. Even there, you will find beautiful work, such as his unique and haunting treatment of "It Never Entered My Mind".

The five stars are for the whole package, not necessarily a reflection of the music. This is a fitting testament to one of jazz's greatest musicians, truly a man worthy of sharing a stage with Charlie Parker (even if, as happened on one famous occasion, they started swearing at each other.) Besides the five discs - which represent everything Powell recorded for either Verve, Mercury or Norgran Records - there's a hundred page booklet with many photos, testimonials, and an analysis of the tracks by two jazz pianists. The music itself is often dazzling, as in the furious version of "Tea for Two"; surely humans can't think that fast. On some of the later discs, Powell has lost control completely and the result is painful listening. The bulk of the material is pretty good; the other extremes are also represented, Powell at his incandescent best and his stumbling, chaotic worst. But that's what you get when you want the Complete Bud Powell. If you're a Powell fanatic, this is an essential complement to Blue Note's box set of Bud's earlier work. If you're not, you're better off getting a slimmer compilation.

This is great but getting it on MP3 would be a shame. The original package, which I own comes in a handsome 150 page CD booklet which is a fantastic companion. Get the original if you can.