YouTubers Dig Bud Powell

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 Strictly Confidential on a Gibson guitar...



Here's Powell's solo on All God's Chillun Got Rhythm from 1949...



Here's Powell's intro on the '49 recording...



Here's Andrea Pozza playing Powell's Parisian Thoroughfare...



Here's Papuna Sharikadze playing his transcription of Powell's Bud's Blues, from Powell's recording with Sonny Stitt in 1949...



Here's the late Barry Harris in Rome playing Powell's Strictly Confidential...



And here's Ayako Shirasaki playing Powell's Un Poco Loco in May 2020. Ayako died in November 2021 after her battle with cancer...