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Will Powell
Grammy-Nominated Pianist Donald Vega Announces Release Of New Single 'Two Words: Bud Powell,' March 28, 2025 Featuring John Patitucci And Lewis Nash
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Donald Vega
Grammy-nominated pianist and composer Donald Vega is set to release his latest single, Two Words: Bud Powell. The track, recorded during the 2023 sessions for his acclaimed album As I Travel, is one of three never-before-released compositions from that session. This straight ahead mid tempo tune was composed by Donald Vega and inspired by Bud Powell—one of the first names in Jazz Vega learned after immigrating to the United States and settling in Los Angeles. The song reflects Vega’s deep ...
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Video: Bud Powell in Color
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
On July 13, 1960, pianist Bud Powell performed at the Antibes Jazz Festival on the French Riviera. His on-camera solo recording of Sweet and Lovely and Swing Napoli have been colorized, giving Powell and his playing a new, more vivid dimension. Two notes of interest. Powell didn't sit straight on a the piano but off to the side. He also rarely looked at the keyboard, which is remarkable. Here's Bud Powell in color in 1960... And here's Powell with Charles ...
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Al Haig and Bud Powell
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Yesterday, I posted about Al Haig playing on early bebop recordings in New York with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Which begs the question, did Haig conceive of his style on his own or was he influenced by other New York jazz pianists besides Art Tatum? The answer is a little of both. As Carl Woideck, author of Charlie Parker: His Music and Life, noted in an email after yesterday's post, “The early history of bebop piano is a challenge ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Bud Powell
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Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Bud Powell's birthday today!
Bud Powell is generally considered to be the most important pianist in the history of jazz. Noted jazz writer and critic Gary Giddins, in Visions of Jazz, goes even further, saying that “Powell will be recognized as one of the most formidable creators of piano music in any time or idiom." His first recordings were made in 1944, when he was a 20 year old pianist in the Cootie Williams Band, ...
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YouTubers Dig Bud Powell
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
To the average ear, Bud Powell's piano playing seems impossible to duplicate. And yet, hundreds of jazz students each year make transcriptions of his bebop recordings and take a shot. As part of my ongoing series on musicians playing favorite jazz musicians' pieces on YouTube, today here are a bunch (along with one older gentleman and a famed woman) playing the music of the pianist: Here's Ellie playing Powell's Celia... Here's Michael Feldman playing Strictly Confidential... Here's Jun Satsuma playing ...
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Six Videos of Bud Powell
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Following my post yesterday on Bud Powell in Stockholm and Oslo in 1962, I thought I'd share videos of Powell in action for those readers who are curious and for those who need a refreshing reminder of Powell's brilliance and singularity. As you'll notice, one of the most remarkable things about Powell is how rarely he looked at his hands on the keyboard, despite what he was commanding them to do. It's as if he's his own audience. As for ...
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Bud Powell: Stockholm and Oslo, 1962
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Sixty years ago this week, during the first week of 1962, Bud Powell was in Paris stealing drinks. As author Peter Pullman writes in his biography, Wail: The Life of Bud Powell, the pianist was at the Blue Note resorting to an old bar trick. Between sets, he'd quietly approach someone else's drink, stealthily snatch the glass off a table, down its contents and return the glass to where it had stood. Then Powell would move on. Except on one ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Bud Powell
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Bud Powell's birthday today!
Bud Powell is generally considered to be the most important pianist in the history of jazz. Noted jazz writer and critic Gary Giddins, in Visions of Jazz, goes even further, saying that “Powell will be recognized as one of the most formidable creators of piano music in any time or idiom." His first recordings were made in 1944, when he was a 20 year old pianist in the Cootie Williams Band, ...
read more
Bud Powell: 1962 Copenhagen
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In 1959, pianist Bud Powell moved from New York to Paris. The exact reason for the relocation isn't clear, though the likely explanations include the ability to play more frequently in a city of adoring fans and boost his income, a chance to relax and seek medical help for his depression and diagnosed schizophrenia, the ability to avoid physical run-ins with the police over his odd behavior, and to escape the crush of American racism. By early 1962, Powell was ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Bud Powell
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Bud Powell's birthday today!
Bud Powell is generally considered to be the most important pianist in the history of jazz. Noted jazz writer and critic Gary Giddins, in Visions of Jazz, goes even further, saying that “Powell will be recognized as one of the most formidable creators of piano music in any time or idiom." His first recordings were made in 1944, when he was a 20 year old pianist in the Cootie Williams Band, ...
read more
