The Amazing Bud Powell – Bud Powell

Album: The Amazing Bud Powell

Artist: Bud Powell

Year: 1952

Genre: Bebop

Grade: A

The Amazing Bud Powell is the crowning achievement of a true American master. One listen and you’ll be convinced that he’s among the greatest jazz pianists of all time. Smooth, unpredictable, soothing, energetic, bittersweet. From front to back, this is a great album.

The songs on The Amazing Bud Powell run the gamut from bebop to ballads to bossa nova. Just like his previous Piano Solos series, the music is adventurous, showcasing a wide range of influences and an endless well of creativity. You wouldn’t think that so much nuance could be packed into such a short running time (8 tracks, 26 minutes).

Powell deconstructs popular ballads like “Over the Rainbow” and “It Could Happen to You” and remakes them in his own image. He pays homage to his bop forebears, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, with “Ornithology” and “Caravan,” respectively. And in his original compositions, including “Bud’s Bounce” and “Un Poco Loco,” the latter of which literary critic Harold Bloom calls one of the most sublime works of 20th-century American art, Powell seamlessly combines modernism with Jelly Roll Morton’s Spanish tinge to point the way toward hard bop.

Sonny Rollins lends saxophone to a few numbers, and drummer Roy Haynes occasionally steals the show, but Powell’s dynamism consistently leads the way. His playing goes from soulful mourning to lightning fast at the drop of a dime, always keeping the listener at attention, capitalizing on the goodwill to lead us down whichever musical avenue he chooses. Only the greats are afforded that honor.

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