DVD: Bud Powell And Others

Bud Powell, Dollar Brand, Don Cherry & Others, Jazz In Denmark (Marshmallow). The centerpiece of this limited edition import is Stopforbud, a film about Powell made in 1962 by a pair of young Danes. Powell's piano is heard throughout, although we only briefly see him playing. With a New Wave sensibility, the camera follows Powell as he wanders through a park, the streets of Copenhagen, a museum and a trash dump. Dexter Gordon narrates. The music is previously unreleased trio performances by Powell, bassist Niels Henning Ǿrsted-Pedersen and drummer John Elniff. It is a moody and affecting glimpse of the great pianist at a strange kind of ease. The DVD also includes club performances by the New York Contemporary Five with Don Cherry, John Tchicai and Archie Shepp in the front line, and Portrait of a Bushman, a short film about pianist Dollar Brand.