The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 1

Bud Powell was born Earl Powell in New York City in 1924. Leonard Feather, in the original notes, traces the early jobs: Valaida Snow, the Sunset Royal Orchestra, Canada Lee's Chicken Coop, the sessions at Minton's, and Cootie Williams's band in 1943 and 1944. Alfred Lion heard enough to start recording him in 1949.

This LP puts together Powell's first two Blue Note dates, both at WOR Studios in New York, much of it first issued on 78s and on the 10-inch The Amazing Bud Powell. On August 9, 1949, Powell led a quintet billed as Bud Powell's Modernists: Fats Navarro on trumpet, a teenage Sonny Rollins on tenor, Tommy Potter on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. On May 1, 1951, he made trio sides with Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums.

Powell's own "Bouncing with Bud" and "Wail" have what Feather hears as an exuberant bounce. Navarro and Rollins open "Dance of the Infidels" with a staccato figure. "52nd Street Theme" is Thelonious Monk's tune; Feather says he gave it that name himself, because the little bands on the street used it to open and close every set. From the same day, "Ornithology," Charlie Parker's line on the chords of "How High the Moon," shows the single-note right hand Feather compares to Earl Hines.

The 1951 trio fills the rest. Blue Note included three takes of Powell's "Un Poco Loco": the first breaks down, the second nearly gets there, and the third is the one first issued on 78.

Un Poco Loco has always been, for me, an indescribably exciting experience and certainly one of Bud's greatest compositions.

Leonard Feather, original liner notes

Nat Hentoff, giving the LP five stars in Down Beat, put the point of the three takes simply:

Loco, one of Bud's most striking performances, is shown here in genesis.

Nat Hentoff, Down Beat, 1956

There are two takes of "A Night in Tunisia" as well, the first spoiled by a late ending, and an alternate of "It Could Happen to You." "Parisian Thoroughfare," which Feather calls a surprise, had never been out before; Powell later recorded it again for Norman Granz's Clef label.

The credits list John Hermansader for design and Francis Wolff for photography.

The Jazz Discography Project dates this LP to 1955, while Wikipedia and the 1956 reviews point to 1956; Wikipedia also dates the quintet session August 8, 1949, not August 9, and Hentoff and Wikipedia hear "Ornithology" as a trio with Potter and Haynes, without the horns. Volume 2 followed, and in 1957 Powell was back with Blue Note at Van Gelder's for BLP 1571.