He managed to fuse early influences of stride, swing and bebop into his musical vocabulary, without sounding contrived or archaic (Groves 2001, 3). It can be argued that he was the most compelling player of the aforementioned group, a man compelled to channel his emotions through his improvisations, demonstrating an endlessly creative mind. He was one of the first pianists to truly understand the melodic, rhythmic and harmonic implications of the new music that was later termed “bebop.” If he fell short of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in terms of technical ability, he was at least the equal of some of the other players whose mastery of the idiom was complete, such as Fats Navarro, Sonny Stitt, Charles Mingus and Kenny Clarke (Farrell 2011). By the time he was in his late teens, he had all of the technical tools necessary to move to the front ranks of musicians in his category. The career of jazz pianist Earl “Bud” Powell evidenced a near cinematic arc.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |