AOW November 23-29 Bud Powell

[brownie]

Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell, vol. 2 (click here to buy)

The Man with the Golden Arm's Gold Finger pointed in my direction for the November 23-29 Album of the Week. Initial reaction was to pick the Jimmy Lyons 'Jump Up' album on HartHurt which I had been listening and been overwhelmed by just before I got the news. But this seems hard to get nowadays so went for an easily available and even more overwhelming album: the RVG reissue of the Amazing Bud Powell, volume 2. This particular edition because it is the most complete representation so far of the memorable August 14, 1953 session when Bud Powell with the discrete but very present backing of George Duvivier and Art Taylor recorded for posterity such masterpieces as 'Autumn in New York', 'Glass Enclosure' 'Reets and I' among others.

The RVG reissue went one better over the previous editions when it introduced five previously unissued and amazing tracks.

Let's talk about this album half a century (and three months) after it was recorded.

If by any chance, you don't have the album: get it, it is really AMAZING!

[EKE BBB]

Good choice, brownie! One of my favorite Bud Powell discs. And the RVG is superb!

[king ubu]

Yes, very good choice!

btw, I picked up that Lyons disc this week, no chance to listen yet, but it sure makes a nice addition to the new (and yet unheard, too) Lyons box set!

ubu

[brownie]

A few days left until this one comes up for AOW.

Have given the RVG album a fresh listening. This was recorded when Bud Powell was still in relative good mental and physical condition. He had returned to the jazz scene at the start of the year after a 17-month sojourn in a mental institution.

His talent was intact. And it shows here.

Piano playing was obviously the best medicine Powell could get and this remained valid for the rest of his life. Even if his later playing was not as artistically brilliant, there were flashes of inspiration that proved the musician in him was still a master. And the technique was still there

Genius is a word that should be used with extreme caution. It applies however for Bud Powell. And particularly for his work in this album. Just one example. Two minutes and 21 seconds of haunting emotional variations that turn out as 'Glass Enclosure'. Mindblowing!

And what about his influence on practically every other piano players that appeared after he came on ther scene? Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Bill Evans, Andrew Hill, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and so many others.

Let's turn to Bud Powell!

[EKE BBB]

Hey, what happens? No comments on this wonderful disc?

This is one of my favorite Bud Powell Blue Note discs, up there with TABP vol.1 and one of the FEW reissues where alternative tracks are REALLY worth and you can say "These are better than the masters tracks". IMHO et al.

Will give it a few more spins tonight.

[Clunky]

excellent Powell, I think I will always regret getting Powell's complete on Verve as ther is so much poor playing on that disc that it spoilt my appreciation of Bud at his best .

Vol 2 and Vol 1 on BN are sure his peak ( along with his earliest Verve stuff)

RVG has done wonders with the sound and both these represent a significant sonic upgrade that even the most cloth eared can hear.

[king ubu]

excellent Powell, I think I will always regret getting Powell's complete on Verve as ther is so much poor playing on that disc that it spoilt my appreciation of Bud at his best .

Vol 2 and Vol 1 on BN are sure his peak ( along with his earliest Verve stuff)

That was my impression, too, when I first was through the Verve box, yet somehow I at least appreciate everything by Powell I heard up to date.

Certainly the earliest Verve dates and the Blue Notes collected on Vols. 1 & 2 are the prime Powell, and yes, brownie's thought about genius is really accurate for these handful of dates!

I have hoped to pick up the RVG (still have the old 4CD box), using this thread as an excuse to do so, but had no time yet.

Keeps some more comments coming!

ubu

[Clunky]

(still have the old 4CD box), using this thread as an excuse to do so, but had no time yet.

sadly the BN Bud box is a blurry effort with very odd graphics , illegible discographical data and generally hard to follow. The sound is better than the orginal 80s CDs but not by much .A poor effort from BN.

[king ubu]

I know, Adrian! I have picked up Vol. 3 Bud! In its RVG incarnation, and it's beyond comparison. Yet, I have listened to the stuff in the box so many times, it would be like losing an old friend to dump it!

The liners are good, in my opinion, and I have gotten used to "read" the session infos etc. the way they put it there.

And then, the two Roost dates, at least the first of which is essential, too, in my opinion, are not available on a single CD except from Japan.

But I will pick up the RVGs someday, I know!

ubu

[JohnS]

Whoops, sorry Brownie I thought this was next week's AOTW and commented on "Way Out" instead. I'll give this one a spin asap.

[brownie]

Stepping in briefly. I was away from the Board for the past few days and thus unable to take care of the AOW.

Was proposed a high profile, interesting and difficult new job and decided to decline after much soul-searching to stick to previous plans to retire in a few months from my present position. This should make me a poorer but - hopefully - happier man.

So back here and find this thread has been off to a slow start with a tangential thread here

Any thoughts on the Amazing Bud Powell?

[Brad]

It's really hard to say more about a record of this type than has been said by commenators over the years but I'll give it a shot. Obviously, an excellent album alternating between shining emotions and brooding dark thoughts. Most of what we think about this album is somewhat colored by what happened to Bud. Autumn in New York is classic but even in the intro, it seems dark but the curtain seems to lift a bit after that. It's hypnotic to listen to. Equally different is Polka Dots and Moonbeams, done at a measured tempo, brooding in itself, obviously very different than the way a Red Garland does it. Generally, this is a happy tune, but in Bud's hands, it comes out quite differently. Glass Enclosure is very disturbing; it seems to show his many moods. From dark to light to dark. It's pretty fascinating, to say the least. Of different mood and classics are Reets and I, I Want to Be Happy (amateur psychologists probably had a field day with this) and I've Got You Under My Skin. A very compelling album and to me far different than Volume 1.

[connoisseur series500]

This is the only Bud Powell RVG that I own. Would like to pick up volume 1 someday for Une Poca loca (if I spelled that right.)

This is difficult music for me. The mood changes are apparent. There's much beauty in these songs. I personally get bothered by lots of alternate tracks, but others don't seem to mind. The tunes are all short and we get glimpses of Powell's keyboard mastery with all the right hand runs. There is a sense of brooding throughout.

How do you guys rate the three volumes as far as which is best?

[couw]

you're not getting a "best" statement from me, but I have always LOVED the tracks with Fuller on Vol 3. Now somebody certainly had a LOT of vision putting these musicians together in the recording studio,.

[jazzbo]

I haven't sat down with this disk in a long time. I really concentrated on the Blue Note period for a while, then shifted to the Verve period while also collecting the European material, and I've been mostly listening to the European material the last few years.

I've come to the conclusion that ALL Bud is worth hearing and having. The emotional expression in the music is really communicative to me; I truly enjoy listening to the swing and the flow and the ideas and the feelings they invoke. I no longer idolize one period or another. There is gold in all the veins, you have to mine it for a while. Once you get a hand hold on the gold within you can identify it and enjoy it from within his entire timeline.

The really interesting period for me of late is the last years, the drama in the music is intense, the sweep of the runs and the power of the touch. . . . It's not always focused, but then Bud can take you along with him in his wandering and you learn from the trip.

Within this volume Reets and I and Glass Enclosure have the goods for me!

[Brad]

This is the only Bud Powell RVG that I own. Would like to pick up volume 1 someday for Une Poca loca (if I spelled that right.)

This is difficult music for me. The mood changes are apparent. There's much beauty in these songs. I personally get bothered by lots of alternate tracks, but others don't seem to mind. The tunes are all short and we get glimpses of Powell's keyboard mastery with all the right hand runs. There is a sense of brooding throughout.

How do you guys rate the three volumes as far as which is best?

There are actually considered to be 5 volumes: The Amazing Bud Powell (Volumes 1 and 2), Bud! (Volume 3), Time Waits (Volume 4) and The Scene Changes (Volume 5). I've recently listened to all except Time Waits. The material I've read lately rates Time Waits as not his best. I like all that I've heard recently so it's hard for me to pick out one as better than the other.

Like Lon, I've started to explore some of his post 1958 European work and from what I've heard so far, which isn't, too be hones, all that much, it's different. The ideas don't seem to come tumbling out as quickly and I don't hear the same speed. Like I said, I'm just starting to listen to the European material so I may be wrong. Others may wish to comment on this.

BTW, it's Un Poco Loco.

[JohnS]

I'm not a big fan of sonic upgrades but this one is well worthwhile, a big improvement over the last cd issue and extra tracks as well.

I find this cd a delight from start to finish. Bud's movingly emotional on the ballads, warm on the medium tempos (Audrey) and sparkling on the uptempo pieces. I like the mambo lilt he gives to "I've got you under my skin", and I can always listen to fine tunes like "Autumn in New York" and "Polka dots..."

A fine session.

[Alexander Hawkins]

Funny - Time Waits is perhaps my favourite of them (although I'm loathe to pick a favourite from an artist like Powell, who constantly amazes me); and the title track I find to be extraordinarily beautiful (if that's the right word; it's melancholy as well).

What I like about Bud compared to so many other pianists is that everything is so distilled: I don't here any chord-running, or anything like that. It's melody or nothing, and I think this makes his message all the more direct.