Jazz Masters: Bud Powell

Album: Tempus Fugue-It (4 Disc Box Set; 86 Tracks)
Artist(s): Bud Powell with Cootie Williams,  Frankie Socolow, Dexter Gordon, Sarah Vaughan, JJ Johnson, Eddie Vinson, Mary Lou Williams, Sam Taylor, Ed Glover, Leonard Gaskin, Max Roach, Cecil Payne, Sylvester Payne, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Stitt, Al Hall, Wallace Bishop, Fats Navarro, Kenny Clarke, Morris Lane, Eddie De Verteuil, Curley Russell, Charlie Parker, Ray Brown, Art Blakey, Buddy Rich, Freddie Webster, Leo Parker, Norman Keenan, et al.

Release Label: Proper Records Ltd.

Recording Dates: 1944-1950

This album box set is arguably the definitive exemplar of Bud Powell's immense body of work during the heady days of the be-bop revolution, starting, most probably, in the early '40s on New York's 52nd Street. The New York night club scene, which, at that time, was the undeniable epicenter of modern jazz, aka: be-bop, re-bop or just plain 'bop', jazz clubs such as Minton's, Birdland, Lenox Lounge, Robin's Nest and the Savoy Ballroom were starting to feature this new music, which was rapidly replacing swing as the dominant genre for the hipper New York jazz intelligentsia.

In 1943, at the callow age of 19, Bud Powell had already impressed seasoned veterans like Cootie Williams, Benny Goodman's lead trumpeter, who, after leaving Goodman, had been drawn by the new be-bop sound and had formed his own band. The Cootie Wiliiams band was already making a splash on the Harlem night club circuit when Cootie decided to take a chance on this shy, young and inexperienced wunderkind. Williams brought him in to replace pianist Kenny Kersey, who had been called into the military, and the rest, as they say, is history.

This 4 disc box set traces Bud's professional career from its early beginnings and his first recordings in 1944, disc 1, Blue Garden Blues, through his development in the '40s, and culminates with disc 4, So Sorry Please; 17 tracks recorded in 1950, at the very height of a meteoric career that peaked in the early '50s and was to end so sadly in 1966 when he would succumb to acute cirrhosis of the liver. He was only 41.

Technically speaking, there have been precious few jazz pianists - in the entire history of the idiom - who could equal the sheer brilliance of Earl Rudolph 'Bud' Powell. Maybe the great Art Tatum, the man who Powell claimed had the most powerful influence on his own playing, notwithstanding the fact that  Powell had come under the tutelage of Thelonious Monk in the embryonic stage of his professional career. The two of them went on to develop a deep admiration and respect for each other and Monk was the first of his contemporaies to notice and concede that Bud was, indeed something very special.

These discs are loaded with jazz classics(Honeysuckle Rose, Dexter Rides Again, Jay Bird, I'll Remember April, I Should Care, Bud's Bubble, Fine and Dandy, Cheryl, Cherokee, Bud's Blues) and serious listeners will be stunned by the command that Powell exhibits, even at the tender age of 20. The first eleven tracks on Disc 1, Blue Garden Blues, represent Bud's recording debut, the first in an extensive discography stretching back over nearly 3 decades. Here he was working with leader and trumpeter, Cootie Williams, sax player, Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, bassist Norman Keenan and drummer, Sylvester Payne. 

On Disc 3, I'll Keep Loving You there are two tracks titled All God's Chillun Got Rhythm, an old Kahn/Kaper/Jurmann blues classic which, on the first track (no. 12), is a perfect example of Powell's amazing right hand virtuosity. It's been said by peer and fan alike that Bud Powell had the fastest right hand of any jazz piano player who ever lived, with the possible exception of the great Art Tatum. On this track he leaves no doubt. The second version of this song is on track 19, and while the liner notes tell us that they were both recorded in 1949, I suspect they were from two different sessions. Here, most of the solo work is performed by tenorman Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis. Both cuts are done at breakneck be-bop speed, showcasing the brilliance of this man in both thinking and executing. 

Many of the songs on these discs are Powell originals, and one in particular caught my attention.  Strictly Confidential, (number 3 Disc, track 11) has been recorded several times over the years - it's even the title song of an album released in 1963 - but this cut, recorded during what many consider to have been his best years, would be very, very hard to improve on.

Listen carefully to his block chord voicings and progressions on this track and you'll  discover they are note for note identical to those in Diana Krall's famous rendition of Let's Fall in Love out of her Grammy winning album, When I Look In Your Eyes. And why not? These are some of the most gorgeous block chords any of us are ever likely to hear. And it's certainly no disgrace to borrow phrases from the greatest jazz piano player of all time. On the contrary, it's the ultimate tribute. Ms. Krall wasn't the first, and you can bet she won't be the last.

There is so much that can be said about this 86 track set, but no amount of words could possibly do justice to this quintessential jazz icon. Many have tried and even though the praise is effusive, it still seems inadequate.

If I had to choose a single musician according to his artistic merit and the originality of his creation, but also for the greatness of his work, it would be Bud Powell. Nobody could measure up to him.
[Bill Evans]

No one could play like Bud. Too difficult. Too quick. Incredible! 
[Thelonious Monk]

He was the foundation out of which stemmed the whole edifice of modern jazz piano. Every jazz pianist since Bud either came through him or is deliberately trying to get away from playing like him.
[Herbie Hancock]

Bud was the most brilliant that a spirit might be; a unique genius. 
[Max Roach]

Bud is a genius.
[Charlie Parker]

He laid down the basis of modern jazz piano 
[John Birks 'Dizzy' Gillespie]

Bud is a genuine genius 
[Duke Ellington]

High praise, indeed.