Jazz From Lincoln Center

Bud Powell: Bouncin' with Bud

by Peter Keepnews

(c) & (p) 1997 Jazz From Lincoln Center, all rights reserved

1) Music: Un Poco Loco, last take (Blue Note recording)

OR: The Fruit (Verve recording)

2) Vox: Tommy Flanagan (10:19)

I think all modern jazz piano has to come through Bud Powell. // (40:05)You could tell his tunes and you could tell his touch. // I really do think he was some kind of genius.

Vox: Peter Pullman (2:20)

I think it's safe to say that if you were to list the ten greatest jazz pianists of all time, in terms of // their technical acumen, as well as their contribution //to the advancement of the art, // Powell would have to be in the ten, no matter how you // count it.

3) Bradley:

HE WAS BILLED AS "THE AMAZING BUD POWELL" -- AND THAT WAS MORE THAN JUST HYPE. HE PLAYED THINGS ON THE PIANO THAT NO ONE ELSE HAD EVER PLAYED -- OR EVEN THOUGHT OF. AND HE BROUGHT A NEW LEVEL OF HARMONIC SOPHISTICATION AND RHYTHMIC EXCITEMENT TO JAZZ COMPOSITION. BUD POWELL WAS ONE OF THE HANDFUL OF MUSICIANS WHO REALLY DEFINED MODERN JAZZ.

WE'LL HEAR THE MUSIC OF BUD POWELL ARRANGED FOR A TEN-PIECE BAND AND PLAYED BY THREE OUTSTANDING PIANISTS: TOMMY FLANAGAN, BARRY HARRIS, AND THE LATE WALTER DAVIS JR., ON THIS EDITION OF JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I'M ED BRADLEY.

5) Bradley:

NEW YORK'S ALICE TULLY HALL WAS THE SITE OF A AJAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER CONCERT HONORING THE WORK OF BUD POWELL. ALTHOUGH HE WAS BEST KNOWN AS A PIANIST, THE SPOTLIGHT THAT NIGHT WAS ALSO ON HIS COMPOSITIONS..

IN HIS BRIEF LIFETIME, POWELL SELDOM HEARD HIS WORK PERFORMED BY AN ENSEMBLE OF MORE THAN THREE OR FOUR MUSICIANS. BUT FOR THIS CONCERT, LINCOLN CENTER COMMISSIONED NEW ARRANGEMENTS OF SIX POWELL COMPOSITIONS FOR A TEN-PIECE JAZZ ORCHESTRA.

SAXOPHONIST AND COMPOSER JIMMY HEATH DID THIS ARRANGEMENT FOR POWELLS "DANCE OF THE INFIDELS."

6) Music: Dance of the Infidels {6:06} OM20

7) Bradley:

BUD POWELL'S UNUSUAL VARIATION ON THE 12-BAR BLUES -- "DANCE OF THE INFIDELS," AS ORCHESTRATED BY JIMMY HEATH AND CONDUCTED BY DON SICKLER. THE BAND FEATURED RAY DRUMMOND ON BASS, SLIDE HAMPTON ON TROMBONE, BOB STEWART ON TUBA AND WALTER DAVIS JR. AT THE PIANO.

7) Bradley: (continued)

MAJOR SUPPORT FOR JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER IS PROVIDED BY DISCOVER CARD AND AMUSIC DISCOVER STYLE,@ ENHANCING PEOPLES LIVES THROUGH MUSIC.

9) Bradley:

BUD POWELL WAS GROOMED BY HIS DOTING PARENTS FOR A CAREER AS A CONCERT PIANIST. BORN IN NEW YORK IN 1924, IT WAS SAID THAT HE COULD PLAY BACH AND CHOPIN FLAWLESSLY WHEN HE WAS JUST SIX YEARS OLD. BUT BEFORE POWELL WAS OUT OF HIS TEENS, JAZZ HAD CAPTURED HIS HEART.

BY THE EARLY FORTIES, POWELL WAS PLAYING PROFESSIONALLY AND HANGING OUT IN THE AFTER-HOURS SPOTS OF HARLEM WITH CHARLIE PARKER, DIZZY GILLESPIE AND THELONIOUS MONK, WHOSE ADVANCED IDEAS WERE BEGINNING TO CHANGE THE NATURE OF JAZZ.

BY THE END OF THE 40'S, WHEN HE MADE HIS FIRST RECORDINGS AS A LEADER, POWELL WAS AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE CHALLENGING NEW MUSIC KNOWN AS BEBOP.

10) Vox: Tommy Flanagan

(17:12) I found myself playing things in his style because it was the style to play. //

11) Bradley:

PIANIST TOMMY FLANAGAN.

12) Vox: (EDIT)

14) Vox: Tommy Flanagan

(24:22) Bud, just the way he played // stays with you. You learn a little bit of Chopin, it stays with you. You hear a little Bud, that stays with you a long time. It's the same thing.  (33:38) He definitely has a style of his own. // It's a rhythmically strong statement that he makes, you know, in his compositions. // There's no place to breathe. Take a deep breath before you start one of // Bud's phrases. // He could think that way. And he could write that way.

15) Bradley:

HE SPUN OUT LONG, SNAKY MELODY LINES AND PUNCTUATED THEM WITH STARTLINGLY SYNCOPATED BURSTS OF CHORDS. HIS HARMONIES WERE SOMETIMES DISSONANT, SOMETIMES LUSH, AND ALWAYS ORIGINAL.

15) Bradley: (continues)

AT ALICE TULLY HALL, TOMMY FLANAGAN TOOK THE PIANO FOR "CELIA," WHICH BUD POWELL WROTE FOR HIS DAUGHTER, AND "BOUNCIN' WITH BUD.@

17) Bradley:

TOMMY FLANAGAN ON PIANO, ACCOMPANIED BY GEORGE MRAZ ON BASS AND KENNY WASHINGTON ON DRUMS THEY PLAYED BUD POWELL'S "CELIA" AND "BOUNCIN' WITH BUD."

AT HIS BEST, BUD POWELL WAS A PIANIST OF UNPARALLELLED BRILLIANCE -- AT ANY SPEED. HE WAS KNOWN FOR FLAWLESS EXECUTION AT FAST TEMPOS, BUT THERE WAS ALSO A SOFTER SIDE TO POWELL=S MUSICAL NATURE. IN RECENT YEARS, MUSICIANS AND LISTENERS HAVE COME TO RECOGNIZE POWELL THE ROMANTIC BALLADEER.

PETER PULLMAN IS THE AUTHOR OF A FORTHCOMING BUD POWELL BIOGRAPHY--

18) Vox: Peter Pullman (6:51)

// There's no doubt that the great American songbook, as // characterized by // Kern and Porter and Gershwin, had an influence on Bud, and he could write in that style.(REVERSE) "I'll Keep Loving You," I think, // is at the level of a Jerome Kern; in fact >// it sounds a little like Jerome Kern.

19) Bradley:

AT ALICE TULLY HALL, WALTER DAVIS JR.PLAYED PIANO AND JACKIE McLEAN, ALTO SAXOPHONE, ON BUD POWELL'S "I'LL KEEP LOVING YOU."

20) Music: I'll Keep Loving You {6:09} OM19

21) Bradley:

THE ROMANTIC SIDE OF BUD POWELL: "I'LL KEEP LOVING YOU." JACKIE McLEAN ON ALTO AND THE LATE WALTER DAVIS JR. ON PIANO.

22) Music (under midbreak funding credits):

So Sorry Please (Tommy Flanagan trio) OM19

23) Bradley:

MAJOR SUPPORT FOR JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER IS PROVIDED BY DISCOVER CARD AND "MUSIC DISCOVER STYLE" -- ENHANCING PEOPLE'S LIVES THROUGH MUSIC.

BY THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING AND THE LILA [LYE-la] WALLACE READER'S DIGEST FUND -- HELPING PEOPLE TO MAKE THE ARTS A PART OF THEIR EVERYDAY LIVES.

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT COMES FROM THE NORMAN AND ROSITA WINSTON FOUNDATION, THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS AND NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO MEMBER STATIONS.

FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF THIS SEASON'S PROGRAMS, WRITE TO JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER, NEW YORK CITY, 10023 -- OR E-MAIL TO "SWING AT JAZZRADIO DOT ORG."

SEVERAL CD COMPILATIONS OF LIVE PERFORMANCE FROM JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ARE AVAILABLE. FOR INFORMATION, TOLL-FREE, 1-888 22 SWING.

YOU'RE LISTENING TO JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I'M ED BRADLEY.

28) Bradley:

BARRY HARRIS FELL UNDER BUD POWELL'S SPELL AT AN EARLY AGE. AS A YOUNG MAN IN DETROIT IN THE LATE FORTIES, HARRIS DECIDED TO TEACH HIMSELF HOW TO IMPROVISE. A FRIEND HELPED HIM OUT BY LENDING HIM A RECORD PLAYER WITH ADJUSTABLE SPEEDS.

29) Vox: Barry Harris (Crouch interview, 7:25)

I borrowed that record player, man, and I got home and I said "I gotta learn something about soloing." // I put this record on, and this piano player was playing // and I started slowing it up and trying to learn this solo. // And it just happened that this record was a Sonny Stitt record with Bud Powell on piano. // That's how I learned to solo.

30) Bradley:

WHILE YOUNG PIANIST CONTINUED TO MODEL HIS PLAYING ON POWELL'S, BY 1960, WHEN HE MOVED TO NEW YORK, BARRY HARRIS HAD A DISTINCTIVE STYLE OF HIS OWN. IT WAS SMOOTHER AND LESS FRANTIC THAN POWELL'S, BUT THE INFLUENCE REMAINED CLEAR.

30) Bradley: (continued)

HERE'S HIS RENDITION OF BUD POWELL'S "OBLIVION."

31) Music: Oblivion {6:21} OM19

32) Bradley:

"OBLIVION, WRITTEN BY BUD POWELL AND INTERPRETED BY HIS LOYAL DISCIPLE, BARRY HARRIS, AT ALICE TULLY HALL.

ANOTHER PIANIST WHO PROUDLY CARRIED ON THE POWELL LEGACY WAS WALTER DAVIS JR. DAVIS DIED IN 1990. ONE OF HIS LAST APPEARANCES WAS AT THE LINCOLN CENTER >BUD POWELL= CONCERT. HE PLAYED POWELL=S "GLASS ENCLOSURE," A COMPOSITION UNUSUAL FOR ITS STRUCTURE AND FOR THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH IT WAS WRITTEN.

POWELL SPENT MANY YEARS IN MENTAL HOSPITALS. IN 1953, AFTER HIS RELEASE FROM ONE, POWELL WAS PLACED IN THE CUSTODY OF HIS MANAGER OSCAR GOODSTEIN, WHO ALSO RAN THE FAMOUS JAZZ CLUB, ABIRDLAND,@ AND HE BOOKED POWELL THERE FOR AN EXTENDED STAY.

POWELL'S BIOGRAPHER, PETER PULLMAN, PICKS UP THE STORY.

33) Vox: Peter Pullman (12:45)

The deal was that // Bud was staying in an // apartment on the East Side, // under lock and key. And // he would be // chaperoned to the club in the evening to play, and then would be brought back at night.

 

34) Bradley:

IN THE APARTMENT WHERE HE WAS CONFINED, POWELL CREATED A MINIATURE FOUR- PART SUITE, COMPOSED FROM START TO FINISH WITH NO PLACE FOR IMPROVISATION.

35) Vox: Peter Pullman (13:25)

The composition he wrote was called "Glass Enclosure," and it is a reference to -- that feeling of confinement, the feeling of being watched, the feeling of being held // and that is probably the most unusual composition he ever wrote.

38) Bradley:

BUD POWELL'S "GLASS ENCLOSURE," PLAYED ONSTAGE BY WALTER DAVIS JR. JACKIE McLEAN, ISN=T A PIANIST, BUT HE CARRIES THE BUD POWELL LEGACY. McLEAN WAS A TEENAGER WHO PLAYED IN A NEIGHBORHOOD BAND WITH SONNY ROLLINS, AND STUDIED AFTER SCHOOL WITH BUD POWELL. McLEAN WOULD BECOME A REMARKABLE ALTO SAXOPHONIST, CARRYING POWELL=S APPROACH -- WEAVING LONG MELODY

38) Bradley: (continued)

LINES AND STARTLING HARMONIES.

AT ALICE TULLY HALL , JACKIE McLEAN JOINED WALTER DAVIS JR. ON PIANO, RAY DRUMMOND ON BASS AND KENNY WASHINGTON ON DRUMS FOR A BLISTERING VERSION OF POWELL=S "WEBB CITY."

39) Music: Webb City {5:12} OM19

40) Bradley:

"WEBB CITY" -- BUD POWELL'S WRITING AT ITS MOST EXUBERANT, PERFORMED BY THE QUARTET OF JACKIE McLEAN, WALTER DAVIS JR., RAY DRUMMOND AND KENNY WASHINGTON.

41) Music: Dusk in Sandi (Verve box or AGenius of Bud Powell@) or ATime Was@ (RCA)

42) Bradley:

ALTHOUGH HIS INTENSE, CHALLENGING MUSIC WAS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN THE BEBOP REVOLUTION, FINDING AN AUDIENCE IN AMERICA WAS A STRUGGLE FOR BUD POWELL. HE ALSO CONTINUED TO STRUGGLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS -- AND ALCOHOLISM.

42a) Bradley (cont.):

THINGS IMPROVED WHEN HE MOVED TO PARIS IN 1959. THERE HE FOUND A RECEPTIVE CLIMATE AND ENTHUSIASTIC AUDIENCES. BUT WHEN POWELL RETURNED TO NEW YORK IN 1964, HIS HEALTH WAS FADING FAST.

BUD POWELL LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO DO SOME PERFORMING AND RECORDING, BUT IN 1966, AT THE AGE OF 41, HE DIED OF TUBERCULOSIS IN A BROOKLYN HOSPITAL.

OUR PROGRAM CONCLUDES WITH BUD POWELL=S WRITING AT IT=S MOST JOYOUS, AND A PLAY ON WORDS, "TEMPUS FUGUE-IT," FEATURING JACKIE McLEAN ON ALTO SAXOPHONE AND KENNY WASHINGTON ON DRUMS.

[Note: The correct name of the second tune is apparently "Tempus Fugue-It,"--"fugue" as in Bach--although it is listed in the program as "Tempus Fugit."]

44) Bradley:

"TEMPUS FUGUE-IT." THE TIMELESS MUSIC OF BUD POWELL, ONE OF THE INVENTORS OF MODERN JAZZ.

JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER IS PRODUCED BY JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER AND MURRAY STREET PRODUCTIONS, NEW YORK. THE PROGRAM WAS WRITTEN BY PETER KEEPNEWS [KEEP-nooz] AND EDITED BY LAUREN KRENZEL. OUR SENIOR PRODUCER IS STEVE RATHE.

THE ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE LARGE ENSEMBLE WERE BY JIMMY HEATH AND WALTER DAVIS JR., CONDUCTED BY DON SICKLER.

OUR RECORDINGS WERE MIXED BY JIM ANDERSON, WITH DIGITAL POST PRODUCTION BY DAVID GOREN AT STEVEN ERICKSON'S.

[alt] WITH DIGITAL POST PRODUCTION BY STEVEN ERICKSON.

[alt] WITH DIGITAL POST PRODUCTION BY ASSOCIATE PRODUCER PAUL CHUFFO.

OUR ASSOCIATE PRODUCER IS PAUL CHUFFO.

THE PRODUCTION TEAM INCLUDES BEN WEINER [WHY-ner], GWENDOLYN DEAN, STANLEY CROUCH AND IRENE TRUDEL [true-DELL].

THANKS TO DANNY KAPILLIAN [Ca-PILL-yan] and ALINA BLUMGARTEN (a-LEAN-a BLOOM-garten).

THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR OF JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER IS ROB GIBSON. THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR IS WYNTON MARSALIS.