Gheorghe

Hi Brad! Always great to read from Bud Powell-fans! About the Xandadu "Bud in Paris": The two tracks of duet between Bud and Griff, I really doubt it´s from 1960. This might be from 1964, since Griffin came to Paris at the end of 1962 to stay for quite a long time. I´m sure the two tracks "Idaho" and "Perdido" were done in Francis´home. the rest is from late 1959 until october 1960 (for tracks "Oscar Pettiford memorial concert". About the other Black Lions: One is titled "Bud at Home/Strictly Confidential" and has Bud with Francis playing brushes on newspaper on some tracks. What followed was "The Invisible Cage", sometimes titled as "Blues for Bouffemont" , a trio recording from July 1964. After that was "Hot House" (some issues titled as "Salt Peanuts") from Edenville, France, August 1964. It was done just before Bud returned to the States. The tracks with Griffin are the best. I also have rare CDs (Mythic Sound) from that period: "Relaxin´at home", "Holidays in Edenville" with a 17 minutes runnig version of "Hot House" with Griffin.

Actually, Bud did his last recording for Verve in september 1956 ("Blues In The Closet") "Strictly Powell" was done a month later, just before Bud went to Europe for the first time (tour "Birdland ´56"). "Swinging with Bud" sounds much more like vintage Bud Powell, he´s much more his old self on "Shaw ´Nuff" or "Salt Peanuts". A few words about Bud´s last record for BlueNote "The Scene Changes": It´s quite interesting how Bud sounds much more like Sonny Clark on that record. It seems he had listened to some of the BlueNote albums by his younger fellow musicians and tried to run with the "hard boppers". Tunes like "Danceland", "Duid Deed" really sound like Sonny Clark.

Hello ccex! Count me in as a very very loyal fan of Bud Powell. I´m glad you opened that topic, I could tell you very much about Bud and his music. The mentioned record "Ups´n Downs" for a long time had been an enigma for me. I first saw it mentioned on a japanese illustrated discography during the late 70´s as his last record, that means recorded after the 1964 "Return of Bud Powell", supposed to be from "late 1964, early 1965". Until at last I got that LP I was puzzled about the fact that the album lines mentioned it as being from the "mid fifties" which can´t be true. So I was glad to read Claude Schlouch´s discography, because he also shares my opinion that it´s Bud´s very last recording. I understand Mr. Masayuti Hatta´s opinion that it´s "fake" applause on most tracks, but IMHO not on "Round Midnight". I´m quite sure it´s recorded at a large concert hall (Carnegie), since the sound of the piano is the sound of a well tuned concert-grand. Let me say something about one other tune from that album: "Earl´s Impro". As other people here say, we shouldn´t think Bud himself gave the titles to the tunes. Actually, "Earl´s Impro" was composed by Bud in september 1964 during the time of his 40th birthday, celebrated with some friends (music lover Marshall Evans) on the Fire Islands, where Marshall had a house on the beach. On that occasion, Bud composed a few tunes ("Marshall´s Tower", "Margarete" and "Oh Boy"). I saw the manuscripts of that compositions, and "Earl´s Impro" from the Mainstream-record actually is "Oh Boy". About "No Smoking": I have a recording of it from Birdland, with J.C. Moses and John Ore. It´s played quite fast, but since Bud just played it without rehearsing, the theme-interpretation is quit shaky, but Bud really recovers during his first improvised chorus. The other tune "Margarete" , I also got it on my collection. Bud had dedicated it to Miss Margarete Nielsen, who was close to him. It´s nothing special, just sounds like a medium-tempo version of "I´ll keep loving you" (Bud´s famous ballad from 1949). Once I saw an interview with Margarethe Nielsen on TV, she talked about Bud´s last years and I was quite astonished to hear the tune "Margarete" running in the background. Bud´s daughter Celia also talked on that film. I think it was Francis Paudras´ project and shortly after his death they showed it on swiss-TV. I´d really like to have it recorded, too bad I don´t have it. It´s not easy for me to exchange impressions about Bud, since I don´t know nobody who shares my love for his music (at least the way I do), so I´d be a happy man if I could exchange my impressions and feelings about Bud and his music. Gheo