Occasionally, Rifftides presents something from the blog’s archive. The staff got together to discuss Bud Powell and agreed that if there is even a slight chance that someone, somewhere, has yet to hear Powell, we have a responsibility to correct that. To begin, then, let’s go back nearly a decade to an archive post:
Compatible Quotes: On Bud Powell
First Posted on January 21, 2010
No one could play like Bud; too difficult, too quick, incredible! –Thelonious Monk
Bud is a genius. –Charlie Parker
Bud is a genuine genius. –Duke Ellington
He laid down the basis of modern jazz piano. –Dizzy Gillespie
Bud was the most brilliant that a spirit might be, a unique genius in our culture. –Max Roach
He was the foundation out of which stemmed the whole edifice of modern jazz piano; every jazz pianist since Bud either came through him or is deliberately attempting to get away from playing like him. –Herbie Hancock
If I had to choose a single musician according to his artistic merit and the originality of his creation, but also for the greatness of his work, it would be Bud Powell. Nobody could measure up to him. –Bill Evans
…and you just know she loves Bud Powell. –Alan Broadbent to Gene Lees, on seeing a beautiful girl pass by.
If I had to choose one recording by Powell to celebrate all that he bequeathed us, it might be “Un Poco Loco†from 1951, with Curley Russell on bass and Max Roach playing drums. This is from volume 1 of Blue Note’s The Amazing Bud Powell, an album title that does not have a trace of hype.
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