1943–1945: Cootie Williams's band In his youth Powell listened to the adventurous performances at
Clark Monroe's Uptown House, a venue near his home. This was where
Charlie Parker first appeared as a solo act when the saxophone player briefly stayed in New York between stints with swing bands.
Thelonious Monk played at Uptown House. When Monk met Powell he introduced Powell to musicians who were starting to play bebop at
Minton's Playhouse. Monk was a resident pianist, and he presented Powell as his protégé. Their mutual affection grew, and Monk wrote "
In Walked Bud" as a tribute to their time together in Harlem. Monk, Powell, and Hope held jam sessions together at Monk's home in
San Juan Hill, but as they only had one piano, they had to alternate playing. Powell worked as a pianist for
dance bands, his incubation culminating in becoming the pianist for the swing orchestra of trumpeter
Cootie Williams. Powell was the pianist on a handful of Williams's recording dates in 1944 and embarked on a tour of the South with his band. a tune Powell requested that Williams's band play. but as his headaches persisted, he moved to his family's second home in
Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Following medical evaluation at Bellevue, he was transferred to
Creedmoor State Hospital in
Queens, New York and institutionalized Powell became known for his
sight-reading and his skill at fast tempos. In January 1947, Powell recorded the first volume of his 10" album
Bud Powell Trio for
Roost Records with
Curley Russell and
Max Roach; both musicians would play in his trio regularly during succeeding years. The two did reunite, however, in late 1947 with fellow saxophone player
Allen Eager at Milton Greene's studio for an informal recorded
jam session that was released under Eager's name. He spent eleven months at Creedmore. and in psychiatric interviews, he expressed feelings of persecution founded in
racism. He received
electroconvulsive therapy while institutionalized, but was released after eleven months.
1949–1951: Jazz Giant After a brief hospitalization in early 1949, Powell made several recordings over the next two and a half years, most of them for
Blue Note,
Mercury,
Norgran, and Clef. He also recorded that summer for two independent producers, a session that resulted in eight
masters;
Max Roach and
Curly Russell were his accompanists. The recordings were released in 1950, when
Roost Records bought the masters and released them on a series of
78 rpm records. Musicologist Guthrie Ramsey wrote of the session that "Powell proves himself the equal of any of the other beboppers in technique, versatility, and feeling."The first Blue Note session in August 1949 included trumpeter
Fats Navarro, saxophone player
Sonny Rollins, bassist
Tommy Potter and drummer
Roy Haynes, and it introduced Powell's compositions "Bouncing with Bud" and "Dance of the Infidels". He went to the studio again, this time for
Prestige, in December, with alto saxophone player
Sonny Stitt to record four sides for a quartet album. In January 1950, Powell was back in the studio with Stitt to record more of their joint album, but it was Powell's trio recording the following month that contributed to his famous album
Jazz Giant (1950). Powell joined Parker and Navarro at
Birdland for
One Night in Birdland, a live album performed shortly before Navarro's death from tuberculosis in July 1950. The live engagement was noted for its "brilliant...all-star lineup [that] clearly inspired" the musicians in the quintet. A trio recording with
Buddy Rich on drums and a big band session with
Sarah Vaughan and
Norman Leyden's Orchestra concluded Powell's recording schedule in 1950. A second Blue Note session attended by Powell in 1951 was a trio with Russell and Roach that included his originals "
Parisian Thoroughfare" and "
Un Poco Loco".
1951–1955: Marijuana bust and guardianship After a bout of alcoholism and narcotic use in August 1951, he was arrested on what
The Complete Bud Powell on Verve author Peter Pullman describes as false
marijuana charges. While incarcerated he had an emotional outburst, leading to hospitalization at
Pilgrim State Hospital. Although Powell's only daughter with Frances Barnes, Celia, had been born around the time of his hospitalization, his alleged mental incompetency made him legally unable to recognize her as his daughter. Creedmoor again administered electroconvulsive therapy on Powell, and his ability to practice piano was restricted by hospital staff. By the end of his hospitalization, he had become
sterile and suffered from severe
amnesia, and was unable to remember details of his life prior to hospitalization.
Ira Gitler, however, attributes the "desolation, melancholy, and anxiety" of this composition to his time in
asylums. While the concert is best known for its first half performed by the full quintet, six of the tunes from the latter half of the performance were performed by the core trio of Powell, Mingus, and Roach and subsequently released on record. Powell's manager Goodstein arranged a regular gig at his Birdland club. However, Powell's alcoholism was a constant problem, and he recruited several
groupies from Utah to prevent him from buying alcohol or stealing drinks. One of his few New York engagements during this time, with Parker and
Kenny Dorham in March 1955 shortly before the former's death, ended early when Parker and Powell had an argument. By mid-1954, The playing of these recording dates as a whole, however, was troubled, with a reviewer for
DownBeat remarking, "his playing mirrors many of the tensions and many of the fearful perspectives that are with him in his more difficult times." He had forgotten standards he had played fluently prior to his 1951 hospitalization and relied upon others to serve as musical directors. Additionally, Powell was still under a guardianship and therefore lacked control over the release of his recordings, leading many to be released where he was confused or unable to play. Powell and his trio recorded an album,
Piano Interpretations by Bud Powell, in April 1955 that included interpretations of jazz standards "
Crazy Rhythm" and
George Shearing's "
Conception" among a total of eight tunes produced by Norgran Records and re-released by Verve in 1957. The album led to a re-evaluation of Powell by
DownBeat's columnists, who remarked, "Bud is in increasing control over himself... [and] may be beginning a second career. I know that everybody in jazz hopes so."
1956–1958: Birdland All-Stars and return to Blue Note Powell's long-running gig at
Storyville, a jazz club in
Boston, ended in January 1956. On the last night of the gig he met
Toshiko Akiyoshi, a pianist who had recently moved to the U.S. from Japan. She became a friend of his in his later years and contributed to the
liner notes of
The Complete Bud Powell on Verve. In March of the same year, "Buttercup" Edwards in a
paternity suit accused Powell of being the father of her son. Powell was arrested but later released on the basis that he was not biologically capable of being a father. Around the same time as this incident, the
New York Supreme Court rescinded its claim that Powell was mentally incompetent, again enabling him to tour. Jazz historian Pierre-Emmanuel Seguin suggested that the removal of guardianship was an intentional move by Goodstein to marry Powell to Edwards and continue to control his musical engagements by proxy. Powell took part in the spring 1956 Birdland Tour organized by
Morris Levy, for which he was joined by bassist
Joe Benjamin and drummer
Roy Haynes.
Nat Hentoff, writing for
DownBeat, noted that during the Tour, Powell's style appeared to have become calmer and more lucid, contrasting with the turbulence of his playing in previous years. According to pianists
Barry Harris and
Michael Weiss and writer Peter Pullman, who analyzed all of Powell's recordings on Verve, his playing improved dramatically between the January 1955 and September 1956 sessions he recorded for the label with his trio. In the 1956
DownBeat critics' poll of jazz pianists, Powell took a narrow second, slightly edged out by
Art Tatum; but he placed higher than
Erroll Garner,
Earl Hines,
John Lewis, and
Count Basie. In June 1956, Powell's younger brother
Richie and trumpeter
Clifford Brown were killed in a car crash. Bud, saddened by the loss of his brother, fell from the public view of American jazz musicians and critics, particularly after his Verve contract ended in September. In November, he began a tour of Europe with the Birdland All-Stars in addition to
Miles Davis, the
Modern Jazz Quartet, and
Lester Young starring throughout the performances. His performances in Paris, and particularly at the
Salle Pleyel, were short due to his ill health, but they influenced pianists
René Urtreger and
Francis Paudras and contributed to the growing jazz scene in France. Hentoff remarked that, in his opinion, Powell's constant touring was bad for his mental health, and that he needed
psychotherapy while traveling due to the "grueling" nature of nightly performances. Attorney Cohen responded that Powell was the one who wanted to tour, and wrote that the pianist was recovering from his illness. Powell continued to perform at Birdland throughout fall 1956 and recorded for
RCA Victor in late 1956 and early 1957. He returned to his trio with Duvivier and Taylor but, according to later comments from Duvivier, refused to talk to his bandmates, who played entire sets entirely by ear. According to Guthrie Ramsey Jr., the reason for Powell's uncommunicativeness was a need to focus more intently on his playing and to avoid losing his way throughout song forms. In late 1957, Powell recorded
volume 3 of his series
The Amazing Bud Powell with
Paul Chambers, Art Taylor, and trombonist
Curtis Fuller for what jazz critic
Scott Yanow described as an "inspiring" and "strong set". Powell's
Vol. 3 composition "
Bud on Bach" included a medley of
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's "
Solfeggietto" and a composition of his own. Further productive sessions with Blue Note yielded
Time Waits and
The Scene Changes, becoming volumes 4 and 5 of
The Amazing Bud Powell, respectively. Volumes 4 and 5 were notable for introducing new compositions to the pianist's repertoire including "Time Waits", "John's Abbey", and "Cleopatra's Dream". A November 1957 gig at a
Paris nightclub with
Pierre Michelot on bass and Kenny Clarke was well-received, but upon Powell's return to New York, his nightclub ban due to the
cabaret card system in the American city made finding work difficult. He experienced further hospital stays in the U.S. before being convinced by Edwards to move to France in the spring of 1959.
1959–1964: Living in France Powell moved to Paris in 1959 with Altevia "Buttercup" Edwards and her son, John. The couple and child moved into the
Hotel La Louisiane, and she managed his finances and his medicine. The pianist received long-running club engagements upon arriving in Paris, and he began recording for
Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française in several French cities with his trio. In December, Powell joined
Art Blakey's
Jazz Messengers for a recorded concert released as
Paris Jam Session (1961) and contributed two of his compositions, "Dance of the Infidels" and "
Bouncing with Bud", to the performance. Critic
Betsy Reed noted the pianist's "pungent bop solos" and the concert's atmosphere of "heated live-show informality".In 1960, Powell was joined by
Oscar Pettiford and
Kenny Clarke on a German tour including the
Essen Jazz Festival. The Essen concert, on which
Coleman Hawkins was also featured on some tunes alongside the bebop pianist, was recorded live at the
Grugahalle and released as
The Essen Jazz Festival Concert (1988) on
CD. The album received high marks from jazz critic
Scott Yanow as a "fine example" of his piano playing. In July of that year, Powell joined Charles Mingus' band for a filmed concert at
Antibes alongside
Eric Dolphy and
Booker Ervin. Pettiford's death in 1960 was a major blow for Powell, and he played in a memorial concert for the young bass player. In December 1961, Powell recorded two albums for
Columbia Records while in France:
A Portrait of Thelonious (1965) and
A Tribute to Cannonball (1979). The
Tribute to Cannonball session, which was recorded first, featured
Don Byas on tenor saxophone, while
Pierre Michelot on bass and drummer
Kenny Clarke were present on both sessions. Meanwhile, Powell formed the Three Bosses Trio with Clarke and Michelot for a regular gig at the Blue Note Club in Paris, and a compilation of recordings at the venue supplied the music for the album ''
'Round About Midnight at the Blue Note''. Powell's performances at the club were mixed; Gitler claimed that he played his best music when other jazz musicians visited. A recording session in Copenhagen in 1962 produced another album,
Bouncing with Bud, and the track "
Hot House" from this album was listed as one of the "Five Essential Bud Powell Recordings" by
NPR contributors Peter Pullman and Simon Rentner.
SteepleChase Records released a five-volume CD of the pianist's trio from a two-night April engagement at the Golden Circle, a nightclub in
Stockholm. Following a summer touring
Scandinavia, Powell returned to Paris in the fall of 1962 but was kept under the guardianship of Edwards. He was tracked down by biographer and pianist
Francis Paudras, who believed that Powell had been abused by his common-law wife Edwards during the couple's preceding years together. Paudras noted in his biography that she had kept control over his finances and clothes and given Powell tranquilizers to make him dependent. Edwards, for her part, claimed in a letter to then-boyfriend
"Kansas" Fields that Powell was suicidal, writing, "He told us before that he wanted to die, so there's not much I can do." While in Edwards's guardianship, Powell's health declined rapidly due to self-neglect and poor living conditions, and he was hospitalized at Laennec Hospital after escaping his guardianship. Powell was examined by a doctor; he claimed to be suffering from fatigue and revealed that he suffered from nightmares and heard voices. He was released under the care of Paudras, who incrementally took him off Largactil, an antipsychotic that may have contributed to his fatigue. Powell made a series of record dates throughout spring and early summer 1963, including a
Frank Sinatra-sponsored and
Duke Ellington-produced trio recording with Gilbert Rovere and
"Kansas" Fields in February and an album with tenor saxophonist
Dexter Gordon in May.
The Rolling Stone Album Guide, and
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. In July Powell recorded with his Three Bosses Trio of Michelot and Clarke, plus Gillespie, on the album
Dizzy Gillespie and the Double Six of Paris (1963), After treatment, he was transferred to
Bouffémont Sanitorium – later renamed the Jacques-Arnaud Medical Center – to recover, and he performed several
recitals for the students and staff during his stay. A benefit concert was held to raise funds for his hospital stay;
Johnny Griffin,
Donald Byrd,
Sonny Criss, and
Jean-Luc Ponty performed.
Jef Gilson played Powell's most recent composition. Powell completed further recording dates, including two with Paudras on makeshift
brushes, during his last year in France; a further live engagement with Griffin in
Jullouville was released on
Mythic Sound as
Holidays in Edenville. and met Goodstein at
JFK Airport. Powell recorded, albeit hesitantly, with Ore and drummer
J. C. Moses in September 1964 for his album
The Return of Bud Powell (1964), but disagreements between Powell and Moses plagued the recording session. After a severe illness prevented Powell from completing scheduled nights at Birdland, he was fired on October 11. Paudras and
Barry Harris arranged for Powell to return to France to recover, but Powell – who feared the medical checkups that were scheduled prior to leaving – went missing by hitching rides, possibly in search of his old friend Elmo Hope, who took him to his home shortly after Powell went missing. , where Powell died in 1966 Powell's guardianship was transferred from Paudras to
Bernard Stollman of
ESP Records upon returning to New York, However, his Town Hall performance received positive feedback from attendee
Dan Morgenstern, who noted, "his final selection, '
I Remember Clifford', was extremely moving ... Powell hasn't lost his marvelous touch and sound, and everything he played revealed a sense of balance and proportion." His last studio recordings, with
Rashied Ali on drums, also went unreleased by the ESP label due to Powell being in "terrible shape". Several musicians visited Powell while he was ill, including
Toshiko Akiyoshi and
Art Taylor. Akiyoshi noted in a letter to Paudras that Powell played an opening night at Birdland in spring 1965, but also remarked that he was unwell. He was admitted to
Kings County Hospital in early autumn 1965, where he played a small performance for producer Alan Bates and wrote four compositions, but after his release he became extremely ill. He was hospitalized again in 1966 following weight loss, erratic behavior, and self-neglect. In a letter from Kings County Hospital, where staff attempted to give him further electroconvulsive treatments, he wrote days before his death: "I'm a writer and composer, and these [electroconvulsive] treatments are destroying my brain." His final composition, written on his deathbed, was a poem called "Eternity", foreshadowing his impending death. On July 31, 1966, he died of tuberculosis, malnutrition, and alcoholism. He was given the
last rites of the
Catholic Church and was visited by his family and Jackie McLean on his deathbed. Several other musicians remained close to him until his death including Bob Bunyan, George Duvivier, Thelonious Monk, and Art Taylor. ==Musical style==