Bud Powell 1953

[Gheorghe]

After I´ve read the very interesting thread about Bud´s recordings from 1957/58, I was once more listening frequently to Bud´s music for the last week.

I´d like to start a discussion about Bud´s activity during 1953 since I always thought Bud went through a quite interesting musical developement during that year. It´s like a kind of transition between the early Bud and his later recordings. The best known recordings are those from Massey Hall, and the BlueNote-date with Glass Enclosure. Also, I like very much a recording with Mingus and Roy Haynes from Washington.

Yesterday I purchased the 4 CDs of broadcasts from Birdland (ESP-Disk "Winter,-Spring,-Summer,-Autumnsessions").

Of course I knew most of that music from diverse LP-issues from long ago (some of them quite hidous bootlegs).

The Wintersession is particulary interesting for Buds left-hand playing which is surprisingly strong with some of his most exiting stride-section on "I Want To Be Happy".

I always liked Bud´s version of "Embraceable You" which seems to be much more a new composition, rather than a rendition of that standard-ballad.

But I observed that the music has very much complexity on the earlier dates from that year, and the autumn-sessions are less intense. Same can be said about a studio-date he made during that time for Roost.

I know that the first recordings were done just 2 days after Bud was released from a long stay at a mental hospital. I wonder if he had the opportunity to practice during that time, because his playing is so strong.

What happened after september 1953?

[Gheorghe]

Nobody interested? Can´t believe it, since I jumped on that board when I discovered a thread about Bud´s last recording with so many interesting answers.....

Give this a try please.....anybody....

[Quasimado]

Just listened to the Summer Sessions. To my ears Bud's best playing on this occurs with Bird - on both *Moose* and *Cheryl* Bird is playing to kill and Bud responds in kind, his playing on *Cheryl* being especially lucid and rhythmic. IMO the greatest Bud on disc is the Bird/ Bud/ Fats from the 1950 Birdland broadcast(s), where Bud reaches incredible heights, no doubt inspired by the greatness of his colleagues (although that ((their musical greatness)) was often a problem for him, too)...

Q

[Michael Weiss]

I think the 1953 Birdland broadcasts contain some of the best Bud ever recorded. Certainly the most harmonically advanced - check out the intro, coda and head of My Heart Stood Still!

[Quasimado]

I think the 1953 Birdland broadcasts contain some of the best Bud ever recorded. Certainly the most harmonically advanced - check out the intro, coda and head of My Heart Stood Still!

*Heart* is certainly beautiful Bud... it would have been nice if he'd played more choruses - Bud at his best can have a lot to say. In fact most of the tunes on this disc (Autumn) are just 3-4 minutes long, which is a little weird seeing it was a live gig ... when Bud is playing well, the more the better.

Q

[Larry Kart]

IIRC, there's a long "Salt Peanuts" there where Roy Haynes takes what may be the greatest drum solo ever -- at one point, again IIRC, Roy seems to be pause briefly in disbelief at what's going on, even though he's doing it himself.

[AllenLowe]

Bud seems to be a little bit transitional at this point - working to advance his playing, but sometimes a little stuck as though tormented by some vision of Tatum - still has wonderful technique (as a matter of fact 1953 is something of a cut-off point, I think, for Bud-at-peak-power) -

[Gheorghe]

Just listened to the Summer Sessions. To my ears Bud's best playing on this occurs with Bird - on both *Moose* and *Cheryl* Bird is playing to kill and Bud responds in kind, his playing on *Cheryl* being especially lucid and rhythmic. IMO the greatest Bud on disc is the Bird/ Bud/ Fats from the 1950 Birdland broadcast(s), where Bud reaches incredible heights, no doubt inspired by the greatness of his colleagues (although that ((their musical greatness)) was often a problem for him, too)...

Q

Oh yes, Quasimodo! The two tracks with Bird. fantastic! Also from that period (shortly after Massey Hall), I got two tracks from Birdland with Diz , Bud, Mingus, Roach (Woody´n You and Salt Peanuts), on Mythic Sounds.

IMHO, Bud....and I say this with all my most honest respect for him!.....made too many trio-recordings. He could be so inspired if playing with other horn-players, like the Birdland 1950 you mentioned, or 1951 with Bird and Diz.

[Gheorghe]

I think the 1953 Birdland broadcasts contain some of the best Bud ever recorded. Certainly the most harmonically advanced - check out the intro, coda and head of My Heart Stood Still!

Hello Michael Weiss!

Much of the stuff from 1953 was what I´d say is beyond be-bop. Bud started to explore other sounds. My Heart Stood Still is a very good example. I heard, that some of those intros and codas had been worked out with bass players, Mingus of cours, and later George Duvivier. They are really dialoges between piano and bass....Autumn in New York, Sure Thing etc. ......

[Gheorghe]

*Heart* is certainly beautiful Bud... it would have been nice if he'd played more choruses - Bud at his best can have a lot to say. In fact most of the tunes on this disc (Autumn) are just 3-4 minutes long, which is a little weird seeing it was a live gig ... when Bud is playing well, the more the better.

Other examples of *Heart* are on Bud´s trio-album from Massey Hall, where it is added, together with 3 other tunes, dated from september 1953. He also recorded it in the studio for Roost (which in general is considered to be a weaker session).

[Gheorghe]

IIRC, there's a long "Salt Peanuts" there where Roy Haynes takes what may be the greatest drum solo ever -- at one point, again IIRC, Roy seems to be pause briefly in disbelief at what's going on, even though he's doing it himself.

Bud loved Salt Peanuts, he even played it in later years. the last recorded example I know is from Edenville, France 1964.

The Birdland-version from 1953 is interesting in what Roy Haynes is doing, indeed. Even better is the version from "Inner Fires" (Elektra Musician), also from spring 1953.

[Gheorghe]

Bud seems to be a little bit transitional at this point - working to advance his playing, but sometimes a little stuck as though tormented by some vision of Tatum - still has wonderful technique (as a matter of fact 1953 is something of a cut-off point, I think, for Bud-at-peak-power) -

transitional is the right word! Especially on the first sessions from february, Bud sometimes sounds very much like Tatum, or like a cross between Tatum and Teddy Wilson (Bud´s stride sections on faster tunes like "Hallelujah" or "I want to be happy" sound more like Wilson than Tatum).

Later during that year, another influence seemed to get into Bud´s playing: More abstract chords, peaking in some tormented but harmonically interesting things, as the fifties went on. It seems, like Bud had listened to Tristano and had added some of his voicings.

[Quasimado]

I'm listening to the Autumn Broadcasts now, and this is Bud-at-peak-power, as Allen says ... there are gems everywhere. .. his line on *Oblivion* (track 14) is pure genius!

Thanks Gheorghe and Michael for getting me to relisten to these... for me, Bud and a few others are what it's about...

Q

[Gheorghe]

I'm listening to the Autumn Broadcasts now, and this is Bud-at-peak-power, as Allen says ... there are gems everywhere. .. his line on *Oblivion* (track 14) is pure genius!

Thanks Gheorghe and Michael for getting me to relisten to these... for me, Bud and a few others are what it's about...

Q

You welcome, Quasimodo! I´m so glad for all your answers.

Autumn Brodacasts: Yes, "Oblivion", two versions, the last one with Bud into "Lullaby of Birdland". Also interesting the 3 versions of "Un Poco Loco". After the great recording of 1951 Bud didn´t give that composition many other tries, here he does....

[ccex]

I know that the first recordings were done just 2 days after Bud was released from a long stay at a mental hospital. I wonder if he had the opportunity to practice during that time, because his playing is so strong.

What happened after september 1953?

Bud was hospitalized from 9/4/51 through 2/5/53. I've read that when he was hospitalized he painted a keyboard on his wall, which was the only way he could practice. He once asked a visitor (Jackie McLean?) if he could hear the sounds Bud was "playing" on the wall.

No matter what method Bud used to practice, his "Tea For Two" from 2/7/53 is as good as any version I've heard him play. He's more relaxed here than on his earlier solo version for Norman Granz. Yes, he is strongly influenced by Art Tatum, but still says exactly what he wants to say in his own style. The same can be said for just about any track I've heard from early '53. (I have the Fresh Sounds CD-1017 on which his Feb. and March Birdland dates have acceptable sound quality). The D.C. club date from 4/53 Elektra later released as "Inner Fires" is just as good, although the sound quality isn't. And we all know how well Bud performed in May of '53 at Massey Hall. In August, he was still at his creative peak, making some more masterpieces for Blue Note ("Glass Enclosure", "Polka Dots and Moonbeams"). I haven't heard the Sept. '53 club dates but note that there's nothing in his discography from that month until June of 1954, when his playing was much darker and slower (listen to "It Never Entered My Mind" on Verve to hear the difference).

1953 is generally considered the last year Bud Powell's technique was in its prime. It was also the year that the manager of Birdland, Oscar Goodstein, became his legal guardian and started keeping him in a locked hotel room (house arrest?) between gigs. Others have written that this was the year Bud started his largactyl prescription, (which was used to combat schizophrenia but weakens the muscle system). Sometime in 1953 Bud attempted suicide by slitting his left armpit (he knew enough not to mess with his wrists).

[marcello]

I just bought this book:

You may find it useful.

I always liked this on on ESP:

BUD POWELL - Blue Note Cafe Paris 1961

ESP Disk

[Gheorghe]

I know that the first recordings were done just 2 days after Bud was released from a long stay at a mental hospital. I wonder if he had the opportunity to practice during that time, because his playing is so strong.

What happened after september 1953?

Bud was hospitalized from 9/4/51 through 2/5/53. I've read that when he was hospitalized he painted a keyboard on his wall, which was the only way he could practice. He once asked a visitor (Jackie McLean?) if he could hear the sounds Bud was "playing" on the wall.

No matter what method Bud used to practice, his "Tea For Two" from 2/7/53 is as good as any version I've heard him play. He's more relaxed here than on his earlier solo version for Norman Granz. ......

........ I haven't heard the Sept. '53 club dates but note that there's nothing in his discography from that month until June of 1954, when his playing was much darker and slower (listen to "It Never Entered My Mind" on Verve to hear the difference).

1953 is generally considered the last year Bud Powell's technique was in its prime. It was also the year that the manager of Birdland, Oscar Goodstein, became his legal guardian and started keeping him in a locked hotel room (house arrest?) between gigs. Others have written that this was the year Bud started his largactyl prescription, (which was used to combat schizophrenia but weakens the muscle system). Sometime in 1953 Bud attempted suicide by slitting his left armpit (he knew enough not to mess with his wrists).

Thank you very much for your very interesting answer!

Yes, maybe the legendary "keyboard painted on the hospital wall" was his only oportunity to keep in touch with a "piano" from 1951-1953. It is interesting how it seems that "practice" on piano isn´t always the only solution for a good performance. See, later during 1954-1955, when Bud was hospitalized again it´s told he had a piano in his room, but his performances when he was out again where much weaker.

The only sources I found about Bud´s "activities" from late 1953 to the Granz recordings from june 1954 I found in a letter that Bud´s mother wrote to Goodstein, that she´s worried he´s drinking so much again. In early 1954 he played in Los Angeles but it´s said he was very erratic and the gig was cut short....

Some great inside views about Bud´s live (not published in other sources) I found in Ira Gitler´s "Jazz Masters of the Forties" with an interesting story about how Bud became friendly with one Dede Emerson from Utah, who studies piano in NY and took Bud to her class where he was "very articulate" and played "Dance of the Infidels" and told how he would like to have it orchestrated . Miss Emerson also tells that sometimes she almost felt like Carrie Nations making efforts to keep Bud off drinking.

It´s interesting how Bud´s style started to change a bit during 1953 (his lines became less intense and his left hand chords more "abstract"), and how it seemed that he had returned to his earlier "act" after going to Europe. Then, his playing ...for example on "Blakey in Paris" or "Essen All Stars" sounds like vintage Powell from the forties.

[Gheorghe]

I just bought this book:

You may find it useful.

I always liked this on on ESP:

BUD POWELL - Blue Note Cafe Paris 1961

ESP Disk

hello marcello!

Of course, being the Bud Powell freak I am, I had purchased that book right after it was published. It´s a fantastic book and I really praise Mr. Carl Smith. Also got Francis Paudras´book in the mid 80´s , the original french version.

The ESP-Disk you mentioned is really nice, a more relaxed performance from 1961, but some sources mention it is from late 1962. I had the original LP but last year purchased a CD-reissue from the ESP-catalog with a rare set added with Zoot Sims. I already had that Zoot Sims-Bud Powell encounter on Mythic Sound. Well, but that´s another period, it´s Bud during his 5 years stay in Paris......

[Victor Christensen]

Yes Bud is The man, but his playing could be very erratic, I have many of his records, I have heard him live many times, he had a two month gig in 1962 at "Jazzhus Montmartre" here in Copenhagen, I was there 3-4 times a week, on most nights nothing "happened", but then on some nights (too few) I have never heard anything like it, was Bud at his best, a true genius.

Vic

[Gheorghe]

Yes Bud is The man, but his playing could be very erratic, I have many of his records, I have heard him live many times, he had a two month gig in 1962 at "Jazzhus Montmartre" here in Copenhagen, I was there 3-4 times a week, on most nights nothing "happened", but then on some nights (too few) I have never heard anything like it, was Bud at his best, a true genius.

Vic

I think it was very hard for Bud to find inspirations during his later years. All that music was in his head, but not always the vibrations were right. Especially the tracks from Sweden from the same period: I have the 5 albums from Golden Circle and the limited edition of further material ("Budism", 3 CDs) . Much of it is just tedious, too long versions of simple 12 Bar tunes like "Blues in the Closet" played over and over.

The best material is on the studio album recorded in Copenhagen, that´s really great Bud Powell.

I also have from Copenhagen some tracks where the usual trio has to guests added: Don Byas and Brew Moore. Bud sounds very inspired on that. He should have done more like that, not only trio-settings, but encounters with hornplayers. Playing trio all the time, each week in another town with another rhythm-section becomes boring. And if it was like Bud´s situation, when he didn´t see a penny from his work, it´s just disastrous for a man and a musician.

[Teasing the Korean]

Not to take this off topic, but I'd like to share my personal experience with Bud Powell, for what it's worth.

When I was in high school, I was OBSESSED with Bud Powell and bought - on my busboy's salary - nearly everything that was in print at the time. These include Amazing Vol. 1 and 2 on Blue Note; Lots of albums on Verve; the double album from the live Toronto gig; and various Savoy sides on which he was a sideman. (The Roost/Roulette session has eluded me until this day; is it available?).

At that time, roughly between the ages of 16 and 19, I was really into the earlier, frenetic, pre-1953 stuff (or whatever the cutoff point is where his technique started to fail). Having a relatively limited knowledge of both jazz and the "Great American Songbook" at the time, the later stuff was for the most part lost on me. But I listened to the earlier stuff non-stop.

For whatever reason, I stopped listening to Bud entirely for about 10 years. In that time, I became a better piano player and a more informed listener, encompassing jazz genres and many others also.

When I was about 30, I revisited my Bud Powell LPs and started putting things onto cassettes. Remember those?

Here's what was interesting: While the brilliance of the early stuff that I loved so much was still apparent, it was really hard for me to listen to for an extended stretch. I don't know why. A little would go a long way. I feel the same way about the Raymond Scott Quintet, who I adore, but can only listen to for about 10 or 12 minutes at a stretch.

However, I also revisited the later, brooding stuff which was lost on me before. Approaching it with a new perspective, having absorbed a lot more music and being more familiar with many of the standards, I found some of this music absolutely riveting in a way I'd never gotten before. Some of it admittedly came off as ponderous or unfinished, but I found some of this "later" stuff really fascinating on a soul-bearing level, and dropped all notions of listening to it from my limited pre-conceived notions of "jazz."

I'm curious if anyone has had a similar experience.

[Bright Moments]

not to take this of-topic but how did our topic starter get to ne member #11407?!!!

did we have a successful membership drive recently? is this an ACORN thing?

[Gheorghe]

Not to take this off topic, but I'd like to share my personal experience with Bud Powell, for what it's worth.

When I was in high school, I was OBSESSED with Bud Powell and bought - on my busboy's salary - nearly everything that was in print at the time. These include Amazing Vol. 1 and 2 on Blue Note; Lots of albums on Verve; the double album from the live Toronto gig; and various Savoy sides on which he was a sideman. (The Roost/Roulette session has eluded me until this day; is it available?).

At that time, roughly between the ages of 16 and 19, I was really into the earlier, frenetic, pre-1953 stuff (or whatever the cutoff point is where his technique started to fail). Having a relatively limited knowledge of both jazz and the "Great American Songbook" at the time, the later stuff was for the most part lost on me. But I listened to the earlier stuff non-stop.

Hello!

Don´t worry, I really liked your input, since I also had intended to write a few lines about how it came I´m the Bud Powell fan I´ve been for more than 3 decades:

After I first got in touch with jazz, some people let me listen to some Oscar Peterson LPs since they knew I can play piano from ears. I dug it, especially the feeling from the strong bass lines of Ray Brown. After having the chance to listen to a Miles Davis quintet track I knew there´s much more to music than Oscar Peterson. Trying to go back to the roots of Miles, I purchased some Charlie Parker, and after listening to the "One Night in Birdland" with Bud playing those exiting solos on it, I was lost forever. Bud was my thing. It was the first music I heard in my ears when I waked up and the last thing I had in my ears when I went to sleep. Well you know I was still almost a kid, I thought it´s not hip having Oscar Peterson albums at home. I sold them for almost nothing, spent all my money to get Bud (and of course all other interprets from his time: Fats, Diz, Tadd, Monk, Dexter Gordon, J.J. Johnson).

Of course I listened intensly to his later (so called sustained) achievments. Though my first musical love was that early Bud from 1946-1953, I really dug into his later stuff and almost got annoyed on people who wrote or said he made "mistakes". Mistakes? That sounded and still sounds so old-fashioned to me. Where we are at? Gettin´piano lessons from some old lady? Bud c a n afford making mistakes because even if he could have used only two fingers of his hand, he still was the greatest thing that ever happened to those 88 keys, that´s my opinion.

I also had periods when I listend to other music, but then I concentrated on other sounds: Mingus, Ornette Coleman trio, and even Miles´electric stuff from the 70´s (just to feel "modern", but I can like some of it).

I also love other piano players, especially if they don´t imitate Bud and don´t play the piano how old piano teacher ladies are supposed telling you how it might be played. I dig Horace Silver, and above all Monk (my wife says: He´s the greatest, because he plays like if he had invented that instrument for his own purpose). And Tadd Dameron: He´s not supposed to be a piano-player but I have times I can´t hear enough from his strange chord based interludes.

Well, that was off topic, but your answer about how you started to listen to Bud inspired me...

[Gheorghe]

not to take this of-topic but how did our topic starter get to ne member #11407?!!!

did we have a successful membership drive recently? is this an ACORN thing?

I really don´t know. And I must say sincerly I hadn´t noticed it. But a good occasion to present myself, since I didn´t find a thread where I could have done it: born in 1959, male, married, jazz-fan since I was a teenager, musical tastes: spreading from be-bop (maybe my main interest), hardbop, earlier avantgarde (Ornette Coleman etc.) , and maybe some of the 70´s stuff, but not necessarly.

I found this board while trying to find some sources that share my impressions about Bud Powells very last album. That´s when I saw ccex´s thread on "Up´n Downs" and thought that might be a good place to stay. Since I am on the board I found many other topics that are interesting to me, like about Mingus, Miles, the one about the "Golden Eight" (Kenny Clarke) etc.

In my live, I saw quite a few musicians on stage: Dizzy, Dexter, Sonny Stitt, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Mingus, Miles, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, that´s only a handful of great musicians I saw live...

And I can play piano by ears. Since my greatest musical inspiration (on piano) was and still is Bud Powell, it´s natural if I play tunes and improvise on them it "sounds like Bud" (says my wife). I couldn´t read a note as big as a house, but can pick up quickly tunes even if they more complicated like "Conception" or fast bebop stuff like "Salt Peanuts" "John´s Abbey" etc....Also like to play ballads and getting a feeling from it that I got to know and to love from later Bud Powell interpretations. My most loyal listener is my wife!

[Bright Moments]

not to take this of-topic but how did our topic starter get to ne member #11407?!!!

did we have a successful membership drive recently? is this an ACORN thing?

I really don´t know. And I must say sincerly I hadn´t noticed it. But a good occasion to present myself, since I didn´t find a thread where I could have done it: born in 1959, male, married, jazz-fan since I was a teenager, musical tastes: spreading from be-bop (maybe my main interest), hardbop, earlier avantgarde (Ornette Coleman etc.) , and maybe some of the 70´s stuff, but not necessarly.

I found this board while trying to find some sources that share my impressions about Bud Powells very last album. That´s when I saw ccex´s thread on "Up´n Downs" and thought that might be a good place to stay. Since I am on the board I found many other topics that are interesting to me, like about Mingus, Miles, the one about the "Golden Eight" (Kenny Clarke) etc.

In my live, I saw quite a few musicians on stage: Dizzy, Dexter, Sonny Stitt, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Mingus, Miles, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, that´s only a handful of great musicians I saw live...

And I can play piano by ears. Since my greatest musical inspiration (on piano) was and still is Bud Powell, it´s natural if I play tunes and improvise on them it "sounds like Bud" (says my wife). I couldn´t read a note as big as a house, but can pick up quickly tunes even if they more complicated like "Conception" or fast bebop stuff like "Salt Peanuts" "John´s Abbey" etc....Also like to play ballads and getting a feeling from it that I got to know and to love from later Bud Powell interpretations. My most loyal listener is my wife!

welcome!!!!