麻豆社

This week Kate Molleson explores the life and work of a jazz giant in his centenary year: the amazing Bud Powell, in the company of Powell鈥檚 biographer Peter Pullman. Focusing on Bud Powell as a performer, prioritising his own compositions but also appreciating the art of improvisation as spontaneous composition.

Bud Powell was born in 1924 and grew up in Harlem, against the backdrop of the Harlem Renaissance. He was a gifted pianist from a young age and became a pioneer of bebop. But he was a troubled soul and the great paradox of Bud Powell is how there could be such joy and expression in his music while his life was so painful.

Today Kate Molleson and Peter Pullman explore Bud Powell in the 1950s, a period in which, while still prolific, he was perceived to be someone in decline. It emphasises the brevity of his glory years: he was in his early 30s. During this period his friend and sometime adversary Charlie Parker died. Theirs had been a confounding relationship. Their last appearance together had been a shambles. Powell was in a mess and kept disappearing, to the point that Parker took to the microphone and called his name plaintively: 鈥淏ud Powell. Bud Powell.鈥�

Peter Pullman's deeply researched biography of Bud Powell is called Wail: the Life of Bud Powell.

To listen on most smart speakers, just say: 鈥淎sk 麻豆社 Sounds to play Composer of the Week.鈥�

Music featured:
Willow Grove (from Piano Interpretations by Bud Powell)
Nice Work If You Can Get It (from Bud Powell Trio)
Elegy (from Blues in the Closet)
Blues for Bessie (from Strictly Powell)
Ornithology (from the Amazing Bud Powell)
Bud on Bach (from the Amazing Bud Powell, vol 3)
Buster Rides Again (from the Amazing Bud Powell, vol 4)
John鈥檚 Abbey (from the Amazing Bud Powell, vol 4)
Cleopatra鈥檚 Dream (from The Scene Changes)
Getting There (from The Scene Changes)