Piano Interpretations + Blues In The Closet

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Editor's info:
'Of all the musicians I ever loved - Bird and Stan Getz and Miles and lots of others that no one even knows I listened to - it was Bud who influenced me the most. He was so expressive, such emotion flowed out of him!'
BILL EVANS

This release brings together two complete LPs by piano genius Bud Powell.
Both are in trio format and showcase jazz standards as well as bebop classics.
This release contains two of the last LPs Bud Powell would record before departing for Europe. Although it was originally scheduled to be a short tour, Powell would remain for an extended period in the Old Continent, interrupted briefly in 1964, when he returned to the States for his final trip. The pianist was suffering from numerous problems at the time these albums were made. He was commited to a mental hospital from late 1951 to early 1953, following an arrest for possession of marijuana. He would be released into the guardianship of Oscar Goodstein, the owner of the Birdland nightclub. A 1953 trio session (with George Duvivier and Art Taylor) included Powell's composition 'Glass Enclosure', inspired by his near-imprisonment in Goodstein's apartment. Following his release from the hospital, Powell's playing began to be seriously affected by Largactil, a drug prescribed for the treatment of schizophrenia, and by the late fifties his talent was clearly in eclipse. To add to his misfortunes, his brother Richie - the pianist in the celebrated Max Roach-Clifford Brown quintet - was killed in a 1956 car crash that also took the life of Brown. The accident took place on June 26, less than three months before the recording that produced the second album included here. Musically speaking, Powell's problems were reflected in his playing, which became slower and more imperfect than his amazing work of the preceding years. However, even if the 'deterioration' of his technical skills led to negative reviews at the time, it is clear that Bud Powell's music remained extremely interesting and that the pianist's genius was still present.