Five-Star Collection... Bud Powell

 ...and here we go again

At the end of last year, the story was deliberately left with The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 1 — the first five-star album in Down Beat’s modern jazz reviews. It was a natural place to pause, with a promise implied rather than stated: the sequence would resume where it inevitably led. Returning now, Outlet Jazz picks up exactly at that point, with The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2, an album that also received the magazine’s highest rating and confirmed that the earlier accolade had been no isolated judgment.

The fact that Bud Powell was the first musician to achieve the highest rating was no small detail.His emergence as a modern pianist — capable of reshaping the bebop language from the keyboard — marked a clear before and after for critics and musicians alike. That initial five-star rating did more than celebrate virtuosity; it acknowledged, in real time, the arrival of a defining voice in mid-twentieth-century jazz.

Between 1949 and 1955, Bud Powell recorded three albums that not only defined his career but also shaped the course of modern jazz piano: The Amazing Bud Powell and The Artistry of Bud Powell. The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 (Blue Note, 1949–51) and The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1953) document, with remarkable clarity, the evolution of an artist who brought the language of bebop to the keyboard with unprecedented precision and intensity. The first, recorded for Alfred Lion with musicians such as Fats Navarro, Sonny Rollins, and Max Roach, displays Powell’s genius in trio, quintet, and solo formats, establishing a model that would influence an entire generation. The second volume, more introspective and focused, reveals a less explosive but more refined Powell, asserting his voice amid the personal difficulties already beginning to surround him.

Finally, The Artistry of Bud Powell (Norgran, 1954), produced by Norman Granz, offers a different perspective on the pianist. Recorded in a more controlled setting and with a polished sound, it finds Powell joined by George Duvivier, Percy Heath, and Art Taylor, revisiting standards and original compositions with a serenity that contrasts with the urgency of his Blue Note sessions. Heard together, these recordings trace Bud Powell’s creative summit: the passage from the fire of bebop to a more contained — yet no less intense — maturity, and the sound world of one of the most decisive artists of the twentieth century.

When Down Beat reviewed The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2, it did more than close the chapter opened by the first volume. The magazine used the occasion to place Powell’s recent work in a broader context, bringing The Artistry of Bud Powell into the same critical frame. Following that logic, Outlet Jazz resumes its work by addressing both albums together.

Here is how Down Beat reviewed the two albums that concern us today — The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2 and The Artistry of Bud Powell:

Two absorbing journeys (recorded this June) into the musically astonishing and troubled mind of Bud Powell. The first, made for Norman Granz, has Arthur Taylor on drums with George Duvivier and Percy Heath splitting the bass assignment. On the five standards, Bud is in an unusually gentle, reflectively passionate mood. Buttercup is a characteristically angular, intensely rhythmic original that is almost sunny in its casualness. Fantasy is more angular, more intense. (Norgran LP MG N-23)

The Blue Note program is more diversified. On this set, issued by Alfred Lion with the permission of Norman Granz, Bud was backed in August, 1953, by Taylor and the amazing Duvivier (amazing not only in his too long underrated bass artistry but in his ability to communicate so fully with Bud, no matter how rapidly and unpredictably the latter's musical mind races). Bud involves himself with Autumn and Polka Dots here with much the same measured passion as in the Granz album.

On the other bands (but one) he is the familiarly unfamiliar Bud Powell at middle and uptempo originals and in reappraisals of standard lines. The one exception is Enclosure, the best and most stimulatingly organized Bud original yet recorded and one that shows in small area the potential of this musician for significant composition as well as influential interpretation. It is to be hoped for himself and for music that Bud soon will come back to health. Good, helpful notes for the Blue Note LP by Leonard Feather. The Blue Note is better recorded and has the better cover. Both sets are worth repeated listening. (Blue Note LP BLP 5041). 

*Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, November 17, 1954 [5 stars]*

Bud Powell

The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2

Between these covers lies the harvest of a journey through the mind of Bud Powell. It is a journey in which beauty and darkness, pleasure and sorrow are to be gleaned along the way; for this mind is a strange land, endowed with a glow of genius yet beset by illness and deprivation.

Bud Powell's career has been an erratic one, gregarious months along 52nd Street alternating with lonely months in the hospital. For all the inconsistency of his march to fame, he has managed to earn the unanimous admiration of his contemporaries and to forge an ineradicable place for himself in the international hall of jazz fame.

A year ago, on his return from a year's absence, he was approached by Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records to make his first return to the recording studios since his illness. But at that time he was enjoying two weeks' vacation between engagements at Birdland.

The session that resulted was no hasty, impromptu venture. It was the product of many meetings between Lion, Powell and Duvivier and Taylor. Each tune was selected to show a certain aspect of Bud's style, and the entire set offers a comprehensive picture of this extraordinary talent. (...)

If you know Bud Powell only by repute, or through the media of radio and night clubs, this LP is the definitive set to represent him in your collection. If you already have his earlier recordings, you will probably agree with me that in this group of performances Bud Powell is at his peak. Let us hope that today, at the age of 30, he may have a future studded with many more such achievements. *Leonard Feather (from the liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - Reets And I

(Benny Harris)

2 - Autumn In New York

(Vernon Duke)

3 - I Want To Be Happy

(Vincent Youmans)

4 - Sure Thing

(Jerome Kern, Ira Gershwin)

Side 2

5 - Glass Enclosure

(Bud Powell)

6 - Collard Greens And Black-Eye Peas

(Oscar Pettiford)

7 - Polka Dots And Moonbeams

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

8 - Audrey

(Bud Powell)

Bud Powell (piano), George Duvivier (bass), Art Taylor (drums).

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City, August 14, 1953

✳✳✳

Bud Powell

The Artistry Of Bud Powell

I've tried, in the past album brochures which I have written about Bud Powell, to describe carefully the man's playing with the man himself, because the two parts are inseparable and each is the key to the other’s personality.

I know of no other musician on the jazz scene today who is as frustrated as Bud Powell. He has so much to say and he tries so hard to say it that from time to time his efforts are too much for his body and his mind. I started to say and his spirit but I find that once seated at the piano his spirit is unquenchable. Bud loves his music and, having a natural talent for creation, something wonderful usually comes out of this marriage of creation and love. But there are too the frustrated edges which occasionally creep in, and in saying this I don't mean to derogate Bud but rather to describe him as accurately as I can, and in many ways this frustration at the edges is a kind of comment that Bud has to make about life and about his music, just as they, in turn, explain Bud.

This date was done with a great deal of preparation and Bud made it a point to practice his numbers as often and as thoroughly as he could so that he would be completely familiar with them and I think this comes through genuinely and sincerely on the sides. Bud chose all the tunes himself, and among them are the great standards, "Moonlight In Vermont", "Spring is Here" and "My Funny Valentine", and also a perfectly delightful original composition Bud made, entitled "Buttercup". The date was done in two sections and on one date we used George Duvivier on bass and on the other Percy Heath. The drummer on both dates was Art Taylor. The respect that these men have for Bud is evident, as is their own contribution on the date.

This, then, is more of the creative Bud Powell. *Norman Granz (from the liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - Moonlight In Vermont

(Karl Suessdorf, John Blackburn)

2 - Time Was

(Miguel Prado, Gabriel Luna, Bob Russell)

3 - Spring Is Here

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

Side 2

4 - Buttercup

(Bud Powell)

5 - Fantasy In Blue

(Bud Powell)

6 - It Never Entered My Mind

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

7 - My Funny Valentine

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

Bud Powell (piano); George Duvivier [#1, #3, #4, 5],

Percy Heath [#2, #6, #7] (basses), Art Taylor (drums).

Recorded at Fine Sound Studio, New York City,

June 2 [#1, #3, #4, 5] and June 4 [#2, #6, #7], 1954

✳✳✳

For those who prefer digital versions, each file includes the corresponding CD which, as usual, also adds bonus tracks and alternate takes not present on the original LPs.

The compact disc Bud Powell's Moods appears here thanks to the generosity of my dear friend Melanchthon.

Five-Star Collection... The Down Beat Five-Star History (Part III)

After exploring both the symbolic ratings of 1946 and the numerical approach introduced in 1951, we now arrive at the reform that would define Down Beat for generations of readers.

This final part revisits the introduction of the magazine's most enduring metric — its hallmark five-star scale.

✤ 1952 ✤

The Star System

Finally, in the May 21, 1952 issue, Down Beat introduced the five-star system — the format that would come to define the magazine's identity for decades. By then, the review department was organized into three distinct sections: Popular, Jazz, and Rhythm & Blues, each with its own criteria and editorial approach.

The new system formalized a crucial distinction. Popular and Rhythm & Blues releases were to be judged by their broad general appeal, while Jazz records — reflecting the magazine's core mission — were evaluated strictly on their musical merit. The editors also devised an additional symbol for popular and R&B items whose musical interest rose above their commercial category.

Here is how Down Beat announced the change:

"Records in the popular and rhythm-and-blues sections are reviewed and rated in terms of broad general appeal. Records in the jazz section are reviewed and rated in terms of their musical merit.

Records in the popular and rhythm-and-blues sections of interest from the musical standpint are marked with a sharp (#), or, if exceptionally interesting, a double sharp (##)".

Ratings:

★★★★★ Excellent (Masterpiece [today])

★★★★ Very Good (Excellent [today])

★★★ Good

★★ Fair

★ Poor

With this clear and durable format — and with its three-tiered review structure firmly in place — Down Beat finally arrived at the rating system that would carry it through the 10-inch and 12-inch LP eras, the CD market, the reissue boom, and well into the digital age.

What was the first Jazz album reviewed that achieved the highest score?

The Amazing Bud Powell!

Bud Powell

The Amazing Bud Powell

Two piano solo sides, four trios and two numbers by a quintet (Fats Navarro, Sonny Rollins and rhythm) are here combined into an LP, justifiably entitled "The Amazing Bud Powell".

Cynics who are inclined to sneer at bop and belittle its accomplishments are hereby advised to spend a few hours browsing over this disc. Congratulations to Blue Note's Alfred Lion for catching Bud at his fabulous best, and to the artist, name of Bacon, who conjured up that brilliant likeness of Bud for the cover. (Blue Note LP 5003.) *(Down Beat, Chicago, May 21, 1954 [5 stars])*

Powell's place in the jazz galaxy can hardly be overstated. He was a genius, the Charlie Parker of piano, and a brilliant composer. He was a contemporary (and friend) of Thelonious Monk, but declared that his greatest influence on piano was Art Tatum. He had a right hand that was described as lightning fast, a dazzlingly melodic way of improvising, and a rhythmic complexity that nonetheless flowed naturally. In the course of his career, Powell’s playing underwent style changes and, near the end, as his health went downhill, there was sometimes a certain raggedness about it — but it was always right.

The Amazing Bud Powell is the product of two separate recording sessions, one of a quintet on August 9, 1949, the other of a trio on May 1, 1951. Originally released on the Blue Note label in 10-inch LP form, the album, not surprisingly, has been re-released a number of times. 

Along with Powell on the 1949 date are the pioneering bop trumpeter Fats Navarro, a 20-year-old Sonny Rollins on tenor sax, bassist Tommy Potter, and drummer Roy Haynes. The trio date in 1951 included bassist Curley Russell and drummer Max Roach.

As the leader on both the recording dates, Powell's playing is naturally showcased. But what a treat to hear Fats Navarro — a bebop icon who died way too young — along with Sonny Rollins and Roy Haynes, both of whom are still alive, still playing, and whose evolving approaches to the music we’ve been able to witness over all these years. Not to mention Max Roach, who many consider to have been the greatest drummer in jazz history.

The original Powell compositions recorded here are bebop classics, and wonderful to hear. But the album also more than does justice to compositions by Bird, Dizzy and Monk as well as some hand-picked gems from the Great American Songbook.

I'm hardly the first to note that this is bop at its highest level. And if you have any real interest in jazz, this album belongs in your collection. Be warned, though: Bud Powell can be addictive. ("Betcha can’t hear just one!"). *Terry MacDonald (seacoastjazz.org)*

Side 1

1 - Un Poco Loco

(Bud Powell)

2 - Over The Rainbow

(E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, Harold Arlen)

3 - Ornithology

(Bennie Harris)

4 - Wail

(Bud Powell)

Side 2

5 - A Night In Tunisia

(Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

6 - It Could Happen To You

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

7 - You Go To My Head

(J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie)

8 - Bouncing With Bud

(Bud Powell)

#1, #5:

Bud Powell (piano), Curley Russell (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#2, #6:

Bud Powell (solo piano)

#3, #4, #7, #8:

Fats Navarro (trumpet), Sonny Rollins (tenor sax),

Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City,

August 9, 1949 [other source gives August 8, 1949] (#3, #4, #7, #8)

and May 1, 1951 (#1, #2, #5, #6)

The CD containing these recordings is a digital replica of the 12" LP issued two years later.

Appropriately, it too was "awarded" five stars… While Bud’s solo "Over The Rainbow" is not included, the disc is rounded out by alternate takes and additional tracks not found on the original 10" LP.

Bud Powell

The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 1

In view of the importance of this album historically, and the fact that four of its tracks have never been released previously, this part-reissue set gets listed here. Loco, one of Bud's most striking performances, is shown here in genesis. Infidels, never released on LP before, has Fats Navarro, Sonny Rollins, Tommy Potter, and Roy Haynes. Like Theme, Wail, and Bouncing with Bud (which have the same personnel and were previously on 10'' LPs), Infidels was recorded in 1949.

It Could Happen is a hitherto unreleased alternate master as is the first Tunisia. Both, like Loco and Parisian Thoroughfare, were cut in 1951 with Curly Russell and Max Roach. Ornithology with Potter and Haynes dates back to 1949. Thoroughfare, never released before, is an earlier version of the original Bud recorded for Clef. This is the first volume of two Blue Note 12'' Powell LPs. Blue Note has also repackaged in 12'' form albums by Sidney Bechet (BLP 1201), Jay Jay Johnson (BLP 1605) and Miles Davis (BLP 1501). All are recommended. Remastering has been done by Rudy Van Gelder. *Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, April 18, 1956 [5 stars])*

1 - Un Poco Loco (1st take)

(Bud Powell)

2 - Un Poco Loco (2nd take)

(Bud Powell)

3 - Un Poco Loco

(Bud Powell)

4 - Dance Of The Infidels

(Bud Powell)

5 - 52nd St. Theme

(Thelonious Monk)

6 - It Could Happen To You (alternate master)

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

7 - A Night In Tunisia (alternate master)

(Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

8 - A Night In Tunisia

(Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

9 - Wail

(Bud Powell)

10 - Ornithology

(Bennie Harris)

11 - Bouncing With Bud

(Bud Powell)

12 - Parisian Thoroughfare

(Bud Powell)

#1, #2, #3, #7, #8, #12:

Bud Powell (piano), Curley Russell (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#6:

Bud Powell (solo piano)

#4, #5, #9, #10, #11:

Fats Navarro (trumpet), Sonny Rollins (tenor sax),

Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City,

August 9, 1949 [other source gives August 8, 1949] (#4, #5, #9, #10, #11)

and May 1, 1951 (#1, #2, #3, #6, #7, #8, #12)

After The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 1 came The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2, a logical next step for the Blue Note label.

It, too, received five stars — reason enough to leave the story here, and to pick it up again next year.

For now… a pause...

The Punta del Este lighthouse points me in the right direction for summer vacation... 

Best wishes to everyone for the upcoming 2026!

Will back in February...

◈◈◈

Five-Star Collection... George Wallington

George Wallington

George Wallington Trio

George Wallington, pianist, composer and arranger, was born in Palermo, Italy on October 27, 1924. He began his musical career in New York learning the mandolin and violin at the age of six. At the age of nine, he studied piano under the guidance of a private tutor. By the time he was fifteen, he was playing in various night spots in Greenwich Village. When modern music came on the scene, George played with Dizzy Gillespie's famed first bop band at the Onyx Club in 1944.

(...)

Until the release of this album, the rich aesthetic qualities of Wallington's music and playing have never truly been heard. You'll find his piano work fresh, humorous and exciting. To complement George’s performances, two of the finest musicians were selected: namely Max Roach and Curley Russell.

(...)

George took great care in creating, developing and composing the five originals "Twins", "Polka Dot", "High Score", "Hyacinth", and "Joy Bell". Each composition differs from the other in chord structure and feeling and not one is based on any standard or popular melody so commonly used by other modern composers. Certainly you will agree with us that these originals are wonderful and that this is George Wallington at his best. *Gus Grant (from the liner notes)*

George Wallington, whom we'd always thought of as just an average bop pianist, surprised us with the evident care and preparation put into this LP of five originals and three standards. This music is brittle but subtle, as different from Ellis Larkins as fire from ice, but just as successful. The originals are original, High Score being a particularly attractive riff creation.

Accompaniment by Max Roach and Curley Russell is splendid. Max takes a long solo on Fine and Dandy which was unnecessary and spoils the mood.

Important conclusion: here is one pianist who has truly approached the incisive sound and individual touch of Bud Powell. One-word summation: George!

(Down Beat, Chicago, July 16, 1952 [5 stars])

Note: Adapted from the original source; typographical and spelling errors have been corrected.

Side 1

1 - Twins

(George Wallington)

2 - Polka Dot

(George Wallington)

3 - I'll Remember April

(Ray, DePaul, Johnston)

4 - High Score

(George Wallington)

Side 2

5 - Hyacinth

(George Wallington)

6 - Joy Bell

(George Wallington)

7 - I Didn't Know What Time It Was

(Rodgers, Hart)

8 - Fine And Dandy

(Swift, James)

George Wallington (piano), Curley Russell (bass),  Max Roach (drums).

Recorded in New York City, November 21, 1951

Zoot Sims on Prestige (II)

Originally issued for Prestige on two 10" LPs, the following CD covers two sessions from the early 1950s. Tracks 1 to 5, 10 and the previously unissued alternate cuts of "Trotting", are from an August 1951 date with Harry Biss on piano, Clyde Lombardi on bass and the great Art Blakey on drums. This material is the star of the show, especially when the quartet stretches out on the eight-and-a-half minute take of "Zoot Swings the Blues" and the eleven minute "East of the Sun (West of the Moon)". The sound here is incredible for the late mono era, and the playing is special too, making it feel like a recording from the early 60s, even though it is from a decade earlier. Tracks 6 to 9 from the previous year (September 1950), by contrast don't sound as good, with Zoot's sax frequently distorting and a noticeable tape hiss throughout. Though drummer Don Lamond is no Blakey, the other musicians are of a higher quality — John Lewis on piano and Curly Russell on bass — so it's not a total loss. Though Zoot's recording career lasted until the mid 80s, the number of quality albums he made as a leader aren't that plentiful in my opinion. However this disc and Zoot from the OJC catalog, along with his collaborations with Al Cohn, should be in all serious jazz collections.

Zoot Sims

Zoot Sims Quartets

A full length album that brings together some excellent early 50s sides by Zoot — originally issued on 10" LPs, Swingin' with Zoot Sims and Tenor Sax Favorites, but expanded here with better notes and more space. Half the set features a group with Harry Biss on piano, Clyde Lombardi on bass, and Art Blakey on drums — and the rest features John Lewis, Curley Russell, and Don Lamond. Titles include the two part number "Zoot Swings The Blues", plus "Trotting", "I Wonder Who", "It Had To Be You", "Jane-O", and "East Of The Sun".  *Dusty Groove, Inc.*

These early Fifties sessions are reminders that although Zoot Sims continued to deepen and expand during the next 30 years, he was already a vital force of great melodic sense and relenting swing. The first date, from 1950, with John Lewis on piano, features "Memories of You", the theme song of one of Zoot’s former big band leaders, Sonny Dunham. The second session, from 1951, is particularly notable because it contains "Zoot Swings the Blues" and "East of the Sun", in which Zoot, spurred by the drumming of Art Blakey, stretches out in the first time the LP format was utilized for extended performances in the studio.

This CD reissue features the great tenor-saxophonist Zoot Sims (who was then 25) leading his first American recording dates. He is heard with two quartets, the team of pianist John Lewis, bassist Curly Russell and drummer Don Lamond and with pianist Harry Biss, bassist Clyde Lombardi and drummer Art Blakey. All but two numbers clock in around the three-minute mark: an over eight-minute alternate version of "Zoot Swings the Blues" and an 11-minute "East of the Sun". Sims is in fine form throughout these cool-toned but hard-swinging sets. *Scott Yanow*

1 - Zoot Swings The Blues (take 1)

(Zoot Sims)

2 - Zoot Swings The Blues (take 2)

(Zoot Sims)

3 - Trotting

(Zoot Sims)

4 - I Wonder Who

(Zoot Sims)

5 - It Had To Be You

(Jones, Kahn)

6 - My Silent Love

(Suesse, Heyman)

7 - Jane-O

(Zoot Sims)

8 - Dancing In The Dark

(Dietz, Schwartz)

9 - Memories Of You

(Blake, Razaf)

10 - East Of The Sun (West Of The Moon)

(Brooks Bowman)

11 - Trotting (alternate 1)

(Zoot Sims)

12 - Trotting (alternate 2)

(Zoot Sims)

#1 to #5 and #10 to #12:

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Harry Biss (piano), Clyde Lombardi (bass), Art Blakey (drums)

Recorded in New York City, August 14, 1951

#6 to #9:

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), John Lewis (piano), Curley Russell (bass), Don Lamond (drums)

Recorded in New York City, September 16, 1950

Al Cohn Quintet - Progressive Al Cohn

Here's Al Cohn wailing as you never heard him wail before. He leads the quintet in his arrangements of four new originals.

On trumpet Nick Travis, now a star in the Sauter-Finegan band, takes some amazing solos.

The rhythm section is star studded with Max Roach, today’s top drummer, Horace Silver, a flashing new pianist, and Curly Russell, a solid rock on bass.

This is Al Cohn, ‘Mr. Music’, as you like him. *Gus Grant (liner notes)*

Backed by some of the top bop players of the day, Al Cohn stretches out here for a program heavy with up-tempo swingers. Cut in 1953, Progressive Al Cohn finds the usually more mellow tenor great feeding off the driving drum work of Max Roach. The four-track set is all Cohn originals done in a Lester Young-on-the-West Coast style. Also featuring the talents of pianist Horace Silver, this early Cohn release is at once hot and cool, vigorous and lithe. *Stephen Cook*

Side 1

1 - That's What You Think

2 - Ah-Moore

Side 2

3 - I'm Tellin' Ya

4 - Jane Street

(All compositions by Al Cohn)

 Al Cohn (tenor sax), Nick Travis (trumpet), Horace Silver (piano), Curley Russell (bass), Max Roach (drums).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, June 23, 1953.