Bud Powell

Bud Powell于1924年生于紐約市，七歲起開始接受古典的鋼琴訓(xùn)練，十三歲時(shí)接觸了爵士樂后便迷上了它，十五歲時(shí)便從高中輟學(xué)，并開始他的職業(yè)演生涯。Bud早期的演奏風(fēng)格受天才鋼琴手Art Tatum的影響甚鉅，從他的錄音可聽到在中板速度的演奏曲目之中，他采用非常多的Tatum式的快速裝飾間奏。從認(rèn)識(shí)了鋼琴怪杰Thelonious Monk之后，便經(jīng)常隨著Monk到52街的酒吧和Bebop的發(fā)源地Minton's House去觀摩學(xué)習(xí)，也因此使得他得以接觸到Bebop大師Charlie Parker的現(xiàn)代爵士樂。從此以后，Bud便以Parker為學(xué)習(xí)對(duì)象。而Bud在小時(shí)候所接受的正統(tǒng)音樂的訓(xùn)練，使得他有足夠的技巧將Parker式的快速奇特樂句融入他的鋼琴演奏之中。這種旋律線條極為鏗鏘有力，而且能夠綿延不絕的Bebop式彈奏法，使得Bud成為1940年代第一個(gè)Bebop鋼琴手，沒有任何人能夠彈奏出比他更快速有力，而且具結(jié)構(gòu)性的即興樂句。Bud Powell在1964年從歐洲返回美國，因健康狀況開始惡化，并未留下任何作品。最后這位一代鋼琴宗師終于在1966年7月31日死于他的故鄉(xiāng)，享年僅僅四十一歲。
 
One of the giants of the jazz piano, Bud Powell changed the way that virtually all post-swing pianists play their instruments. He did away with the left hand striding that had been considered essential earlier and used his left hand to state chords on an irregular basis. His right often played speedy single-note lines, essentially transforming Charlie Parkers vocabulary to the piano (although he developed parallel to Bird).
 
Tragically, Bud Powell was a seriously ill genius. After being encouraged and tutored to an extent by his friend Thelonious Monk at jam sessions in the early 40s, Powell was with Cootie Williams orchestra during 1943-1945. In a racial incident, he was beaten on the head by police; Powell never fully recovered and would suffer from bad headaches and mental breakdowns throughout the remainder of his life. Despite this, he recorded some true gems during 1947-1951 for Roost, Blue Note, and Verve, composing such major works as Dance of the Infidels, Hallucinations (also known as Budo), Un Poco Loco, Bouncing With Bud, and Tempus Fugit. Even early on, his erratic behavior resulted in lost opportunities (Charlie Parker supposedly told Miles Davis that he would not hire Powell because hes even crazier than me!), but Powells playing during this period was often miraculous.
 
A breakdown in 1951 and hospitalization that resulted in electroshock treatments weakened him, but Powell was still capable of playing at his best now and then, most notably at the 1953 Massey Hall Concert. Generally in the 1950s his Blue Notes find him in excellent form, while he is much more erratic on his Verve recordings. His warm welcome and lengthy stay in Paris (1959-1964) extended his life a bit, but even here Powell spent part of 1962-1963 in the hospital. He returned to New York in 1964, disappeared after a few concerts, and did not live through 1966.
 
In later years, Bud Powells recordings and performances could be so intense as to be scary, but other times he sounded quite sad. However, his influence on jazz (particularly up until the rise of McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans in the 1960s) was very strong and he remains one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time.