Record Review: Bud Powell — 'Birdland 1953'

Weekly music roundup.

Apr 23, 2014 at 12:11 am
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Bud Powell
Birdland 1953
ESP 

In his biography Wail: The Life of Bud Powell, author Peter Pullman wrote that 1953 was the busiest year of the influential jazz pianist’s life. He certainly spent a lot of time at the world famous Birdland Club in New York, and completists will rejoice at the release of this three-CD set, recorded between February and September of that year. Surrounded by musicians like Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, Powell was at his joyful, bouncy best that year, highlighting why he’s such a huge influence on the music that would later be known as bebop.