Jazz Giant [Original recording remastered]

Bud Powell | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 6, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1949
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B000058A19
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #229,391 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This CD combines trio sessions from 1949 and 1950, a time when Bud Powell was at the brief peak of his powers, creating some of the definitive piano recordings of modern jazz. At its best, Powell's work represented one of those rare moments when technique, creative vision, and the historical situation combined to create masterpieces. Drawing elements of his inspiration from Art Tatum, Charlie Parker, and Thelonious Monk, Powell was the one bop pianist able to hold his own as a soloist with the greatest horn players. The earlier recordings have Powell accompanied by Ray Brown on bass and Max Roach on drums, and as potent a rhythm section as that is, Powell provides much of the momentum. Ideas fly from the pianist's fingers on standards such as "Cherokee" and his own "Tempus Fugit." It's apparent from "Celia" and the moving "I'll Keep Loving You" that Powell is one of the neglected composers of jazz. On the later session, with Roach and bassist Curly Russell, there's more emphasis on Powell's ballad playing, and while the shifting approaches can suggest Tatum, there's a depth to "Body and Soul" that is Powell's alone. Shades of Monk's skewed rhythms appear in the bounce tempo "So Sorry, Please," but they arise in the midst of Powell's distinct linear invention. Jazz piano has rarely reached these heights. The Verve Master Edition presents these essential recordings with sparkling 24-bit remastering and adds new liner notes by Powell biographer Peter Pullman. --Stuart Broomer

Product Description

2008 reissue of the complete album Jazz Giant, widely regarded as one of the best of Bud Powell's career. As a bonus, a complete 1951 piano solo session featuring two of the Powell's best known compositions: Hallucinations and Parisian Thoroughfare, plus some more extra numbers. 13 tracks. Essential Jazz. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bud at his best, March 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Jazz Giant (Audio CD)

this new cd release confirms Bud's place in the greats of jazz music. While his presence was reduced in the recent Ken Burn's epic on the history of jazz, (not Bud did not even get a "greatest hits" cd in that series), here he proves his status as one of the archetics of be-bop, and earns a place in the trinity of bop along with Dizzy and Bird. Bud's music, influenced by his early study of classical music, especially Baroque, layers rythems and melodies into a complex web of sound. Bud was one of the best and the selections on this cd will please and delight any fan of jazz, new or old. A true classic and (in this day of Kenny G), one of the best reissues of the year.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what you'll want., December 11, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Paris, FRANCE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jazz Giant (Audio CD)

You won't have understood Bud Powell's music, nor his legacy, without having heard these tunes, which are all superb. Any pianist worth her or his salt has struggled through at least a handful of these. We don't complain about "background noise" on important re- cordings which were made before the dubious advent of perfectly controlled digital recordings. Instead, we are thankful that these recordings were made at all. This is as recommended as it gets. Your record collection will ne'er be perfection...

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A definitive collection of the master's work, July 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Jazz Giant (Audio CD)

This collection of tracks, as much as any other, captures Bud Powell at the top of his form. Powell was the overlooked equal of Parker in terms of sheer musical importance and artistry, and pianistically more than a match for Art Tatum. These early Verves are sublime, almost inhumanly so.