Customer Reviews

Tempus Fugue-It

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

 

 

This boxed set is full of incredible gems by Powell with many other giants of jazz (Cootie Williams, Dexter Gordon, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, Sonny Stit, Fats Navarro, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Roy Haynes, Art Blakey, Buddy Rich, etc.). There are cuts on this collection, especially on CD#4, that are up there with the best piano playing I have ever heard (that from a listener, not a player). My collection includes many great piano players - Evans, Tatum, Hines, Wilson, Peterson, Tyner, Garner, Brubeck and many others, but listening to this cd along with the Blue Note Best of Bud Powell (which picks up where Tempus Fugue-It leaves off - acting as a fifth CD in the set) convinces me that Powell ranks with the very best.

I have noticed that some reviewers complain when the sound quality of old recordings is not very good (eg: Okeh Ellington - which is one of my favorites). I am no expert on modern digital sound magic, but I do know that the sound quality varies on this collection. Some cuts have fairly poor sound quality.

Also, I have found two errors on the set. One is on track 19, disc 1, where a fragment of the end of the song is left floating between tracks - an editing error. The other is the reverse listing (booklet and CD jacket) of the songs "Dance of the Infidels" and "52nd Street Theme" - tracks 15 and 16 on disc 4, which actually play in the order of 16 then 15.

However, despite the poor quality of a few of the cuts, and the minor errors, the music is so awesome, that it makes little difference to this listener. It is clearly a 5-star set!

I own almost 40 Bud Powell albums, and try to learn as many of his compositions as time permits. I have the Complete Bud Powell on Blue Note and on Verve, and even most of his Mythic Sounds LPs from France and New York in the early '60s. As much as I love late Bud Powell, I can state that this is the one box set to have if you're having only one. If you're interested in later Bud, get the complete Blue Note Box or find Live in Lausanne and Blues for Bouffemont. Proper presents a very informative booklet about Bud's brilliance and troubled career. This was issued right after British copyrights expired on Bud's first recordings for Vogue, Savoy, Blue Note, Prestige, and Verve expired there. Nothing after 1950 is included. Still, this contains his first recordings (with Cootie Williams) and all the sides that initially made Bud famous (Webb City, Off Minor, Indiana, Nice Work If You Can Get It, plus the Fats Navarro/Sonny Rollins sessions for Blue Note, early Dexter Gordon sessions, some collaborations with Charlie Parker, the Sonny Stitt/J.J. Johnson sessions for Prestige, and some of his first Verve classics).

This box set of Bud Powell focuses on the early recordings from 1944-1950,displaying the great bebop pianist at the very height of his career.The box set includes four compact disc(86 recordings) and a very nice 48 page illustrated booklet.If you've never really heard this genius of a pianist, this is wonderful introduction to the man who in my opinion was equal to or dare I say better than charlie parker!Powells playing on this set is nothing short of incredible in its creative flow and spontaneity, a must have for any bebop connoisseur.

For all true jazz fans, the night of May 15, 1950 was one of the peaks of live music. (The box calls it June 30, but most evidence points to May 15th - see online discographies for the full discussion). But the personnel that night at Birdland was:

Charlie Parker, alto sax

Fats Navarro, trumpet

Bud Powell, piano

Curley Russell, bass

Art Blakey, drums

Live in New York, and Bud takes over the show - with five of the greatest piano solos ever recorded. Other songs were recorded that night and can be found on various other releases. But five of the best are on Disc 4 of this amazing box set.

This box set contains a fine collection of songs either led by or includes Bud Powell. This review is not for the music contained on the set, however. I am rating the mastering and quality of the audio. The audio quality of this set is from fair to, in some cases, very poor. There is at least one song on this set where the audio quality is so poor I have difficulty hearing the piano notes being played.

Secondly, there are some errors and fade outs on a couple of the tracks. One song plays all the way through correctly, fades out, then I hear the ending of the track repeated. This is an error in mastering/CD creation. Another song fades out before ending to silence then fades back in. This is most probably due to an issue on the analog tape that the engineer decided it was best that we not hear.

The quality does improve on some tracks though, so it's not consistent. This set is nowhere near the quality of the Rudy Van Gelder Remasters of Bud Powell's work. However, this is a complete set that is good to add to your collection if you do not already have these songs.

One final comment is that some portions of the songs have been removed I'm guessing to fit all the content on a CD. The introduction to a few songs have been cut, and it sounds wrong.