Six Videos of Bud Powell

Following my post yesterday on Bud Powell in Stockholm and Oslo in 1962, I thought I'd share videos of Powell in action for those readers who are curious and for those who need a refreshing reminder of Powell's brilliance and singularity. As you'll notice, one of the most remarkable things about Powell is how rarely he looked at his hands on the keyboard, despite what he was commanding them to do. It's as if he's his own audience.

As for Powell's habit of biting on his lips while performing, what looks to the viewer as if he's chewing gum, Peter Pullman in his Powell biography, Wail: The Life of Bud Powell, said it was likely Powell's medication:

[Bassist] Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen explains Powell’s disengagement and routinized behavior as the result of chemical sedation. Aside from what he calls Powell’s “perpetual fog”, he had noticed his leader’s annoying habit of chewing his lips a lot (the involuntary, repetitive motion is one of the symptoms of habitual reliance on chlorpromazine...first synthesized in France in 1954 and sold as Largactil. It was sold shortly thereafter in the U.S. as Thorazine, Dr. Polatin was the first to put Powell on a regimen of this neuroleptic for any length of time).

Here are six YouTube clips:

Here's Bud Powell in 1959 in Paris at the Club Saint-Germain with Bud Powell (p), Clark Terry (flugl hrn), Barney Wilen (ts), Pierre Michelot (b), Kenny Clarke (d)...



Here's Powell playing solo at the Antibes Jazz Festival in July 1960, colorized...



Here's Powell with Charles Mingus Quintet at the Antibes Jazz Festival in 1960, colorized, with Charles Mingus (b), Eric Dolphy (as, bass clar), Bud Powell (p), Ted Curson (tp), Booker Ervin (ts) and Dannie Richmond (drums). Powell's solo is absolutely hair-raising, giving one the impression that he could have continued to solo for another hour and a half without repeating a line. The shoot out between Dolphy and Ervin trading one-measure lines is pretty sensational as well. I'm totally with the guys in the audience with dark glasses snapping their fingers...



Here's Bud Powell at the Blue Note in Paris between 1959 and 1961, colorized. He was joined on the first three songs by  Pierre Michelot on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums. On the next two, they're joined by Lucky Thompson on tenor saxophone and Jimmy Gourley on guitar. The two vocal tricks with French singer Trudy Peters features Jean-Marie Ingrand on bass and Jean Guerin on drums. On the final song, Powell is backed by Jean-Marie Ingrand on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums... 



Here's Powell at Cafe Montmartre in 1962, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass and Jørgen Elniff on drums...



And finally, here's Powell playing Thelonious Monk's 'Round Midnight...