Bud Powell
piano
Bebop pianist whose records, starting with “Webb City”, taught the teenage Barry how to solo, and whom Barry ranked above every other pianist of his generation.
- mentions
- 39
- recordings
- 18
- Barry speaking
- 30
What Barry says
Barry could chord as a teenager but could not solo like the West Side pianists, so he slowed down “Webb City” (Sonny Stitt, Fats Navarro and Bud Powell) on a borrowed variable-speed record player and learned from it. That, he says, is why people hear Bud in his playing.
The Spirit of Bebop16:50Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶38Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶198Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶7Andrew Velez, Barry Harris: A Thousand Percent Music Man ¶9
In his day every young pianist, asked for his favourite, said Bud Powell, though some might say Art Tatum. Barry adds that even Chick Corea, Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly would have named Bud as the best.
The last train to Monk: an interview9:32Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle9:37Accepting the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award7:56
Bud’s technique and creativity were the best, and every record had something you had never heard before. Barry says Bud is the one player you can be sure to learn from whenever you listen, and wishes he were appreciated as much as he should be.
The last train to Monk: an interview10:15Accepting the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award8:309:05
Barry agrees that Bud was the pianist’s equivalent of Bird. His assignment: find the Cootie Williams band record and, somewhere dark, listen under Cleanhead Vinson’s vocal for the young pianist double-timing minor arpeggios. Cootie, he says, must have let him do anything he wanted.
The last train to Monk: an interview19:14Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶114Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶115Andrew Velez, Barry Harris: A Thousand Percent Music Man ¶9Andrew Velez, Barry Harris: A Thousand Percent Music Man ¶10
A lot of Monk rubbed off on Bud, especially the whole-tone scale, so dealing with Bud means dealing with part of Monk. In one class Barry ties his own sound to Monk through Bud, and he says he played Monk’s tunes more the way Bud would.
The last train to Monk: an interview19:54The 2016 workshop, part 3: Monk’s tunes, not his style2:50Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶333unknown (JazzTimes; the byline is missing on the current site), Barry Harris: Teacher Man ¶9
Tatum belonged to the 1930s and stride, a big band by himself. Bud came as the big bands broke up into small groups, and was the best accompanist and soloist of them all, so Barry’s generation are not striders.
The last train to Monk: an interview17:14Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle10:45Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶122
Barry tells Frank Hewitt’s story of calling at Bud’s home in the morning to go out, finding him playing “Embraceable You”, and finding him still playing it that night. To Barry that is practising by playing.
Accepting the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award8:30Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶130
In class he points to Bud’s details: a Bud Powell ending in a lesson on Bud’s ballad “I’ll Keep Loving You”, a record where Bud simply plays E flat minor 7 to A flat 7, and the fact that Bud, like Tatum and Monk, did not keep the left hand up high all the time.
Practising the sixth diminished scales28:39Borrowed diminished notes on All the Things You Are12:41Small chords, not big ones1:40
In his own words
His technique my brother, there was no technique better than that. His technique was the best, his creativity was the best. Every record had something on it that you had never heard before.
He’s the only one that you really can say, if you listen to him play, you’re going to learn something.
That’s why when people say, you play like Bud Powell, I guess I do, that’s how I started out.
No, if you deal with Bud Powell, you deal with part of Monk. Bud Powell was influenced by Monk in some kind of way.
I slowed that record down...It ended up where I started listening to him. He was the best one of all of them as far as this music was concerned.
Every mention
39 moments in the recordings, 30 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
The Spirit of Bebop
- 16:50
Learned to solo from “Webb City”; that is why people say he plays like Bud.
- 17:56
Speaker unclear
Recalls Bud late on at Birdland, seeming to glide over the keys.
- 3:23
Someone else
A commentator says Barry stayed true to Bud and Monk when nobody wanted to hear it.
- 17:23
Someone else
A commentator contrasts Bud’s explosive attack with Tatum and calls him the inventor of modern piano.
The last train to Monk: an interview
- 9:32
Every pianist of his day named Bud Powell as his favourite.
- 10:15
Bud’s technique and creativity were the best; every record held something new.
- 19:14
Listen to Bud on the Cootie Williams records; Cootie let the young man do anything.
- 19:54
A lot of Monk rubbed off on Bud.
- 17:14
Tatum was the 1930s and stride; Bud came as big bands broke into small groups.
- 11:36
Recommends a 1957 Bud recording with Donald Byrd, Phil Woods, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle
Accepting the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award
The 2016 workshop, part 3: Monk’s tunes, not his style
Interview: Bud Powell and teaching singers
- 8:28
Bud was a searcher; when he doubled up he could get lost.
- 10:13
Speaker unclear
In this period Bud played with young rhythm sections: Paul Chambers, Sam Jones, Philly Joe Jones.
- 10:44
Thinks Bud was recorded at Birdland after Paris; a Frenchman taped him almost every night.
- 0:00
Interviewer
Ben Sidran recalls Barry calling Bud a product of the Monk school, emotionally close to his playing.
- 7:54
Interviewer
Sidran notes Bud doubling the time and getting lost on bars 7 and 8.
Practising the sixth diminished scales
Borrowed diminished notes on All the Things You Are
- 12:41
On one record Bud simply plays E flat minor 7 to A flat 7; learn the small things.
Small chords, not big ones
- 1:40
Tatum, Bud and Monk did not keep the left hand high; play hands together.
Believe: a talk to musicians
Stella by Starlight
- 6:28
On “Stella by Starlight”, contrasts how most people play one spot with how Bud played it.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished
- 3:30
Speaker unclear
Bud Powell made a whole introduction out of a small scale figure.
Master class, part 2: technique and dedication
- 3:06
Mentions a story of Oscar Peterson and Bud at the same club one night, something of a battle.
Music is like math
- 3:00
Now less tied to Bird, Bud and Dizzy (the old automatic captions name Bud; the newer transcript hears Bird twice); none of them played it all.
Barry Harris Live In Rennes
- 40:22
In concert he plays Bud Powell, Bird and Monk, as a jazz musician should.
Barry Harris Trio - 2005-07-08, North Sea Jazz Festival, Netherlands
- 36:12
Introduces Bud Powell’s ballad “I’ll Keep Loving You” in concert.
Ep.1 | Everything no one has ever told you about jazz | Barry Harris
- 0:06
Names Bud Powell with Parker and Gillespie as the greatest musicians.
Barry Harris Funeral
In the interviews and notes
The first thing Barry learned to play was “Webb City”, from a record and a special record player lent by Bess Bonnier, a blind pianist in Detroit. He notes it just happened to be Bud with Sonny Stitt rather than Oscar Peterson.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶38Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶7
Asked whether Bud was the pianist’s Charlie Parker, Barry agrees and sends the listener to the Cootie Williams records, where under the vocal Bud is double-timing minor arpeggios.
Bud with Cootie Williams and Bird with Jay McShann were, in Barry’s view, each heading for the same summit on their own; he doubts either influenced the other much.
Barry first heard Bud in person at Birdland on a 1953 trip to New York, watching from afar. Years later, when Francis Paudras brought Bud back, he went every night for a week, but found a different Bud.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶110Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶112Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶113Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶221Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶222Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶223Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶224
Bud’s whole-tone scales and other habits show Monk’s influence, so a young pianist who studied Bud gradually grew into Monk.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶331Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶333Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶19
Frank Hewitt’s story of Bud playing “Embraceable You” from morning to night is Barry’s example of practising by playing one tune in tempo for a long time.
Barry listens mostly to Bird, Bud and Monk, and especially loves the band with Bud, Phil Woods, Donald Byrd, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor.
Young pianists who play single lines in the right hand do not get it from Bud, Monk or Tatum, none of whom played that way; jazz piano is two-handed music.
Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶30Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶479
Tommy Flanagan says Barry got into Bud Powell’s style quickly and gave it more attention than anyone else in Detroit, while Flanagan himself was still absorbed in Tatum.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶52Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶54Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶56
In a 2014 phone interview Barry told the author he was a Bird man before a Bud man; the author argues that many people link Barry’s playing most closely with Bud.
Recordings that name them
Barry’s performances and records in the archive that credit or name them.
- Barry Harris Quintet Live at Jazzclub Ostertor, Bremen, Germany - 1976 (audio only)2026, 39 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Trio - 2005-07-08, North Sea Jazz Festival, Netherlands2022, 80 min YouTube
- 20/04/1967 - Pepper Adams & Barry Harris2021, 33 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Live In Rennes2021, 77 min YouTube
- Ep.1 | Everything no one has ever told you about jazz | Barry Harrisn.d., 8 min YouTube
- Barry Harris plays ‘’Topsy Turvy’’ (Bud Powell)2020, 2 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Trio - Live at Dizzy’s, New York, June 2017 Part 2New York City, 2017, 61 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Trio - Live at Dizzy’s, New York, June 2017 Part 1New York City, 2017, 28 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Trio Live at The Village Vanguard, NYC 2008 [BOOTLEG] | bernie’s bootlegsNew York City, 2008–19, 78 min YouTube
- Barry Harris, Grant Stewart, Joe Magnarelli - Tea For Two (Bud Powell Changes) | bernie’s bootlegs2017, 5 min YouTube
- Barry Harris - Strictly Confidential (Bud Powell) Rome 2016Rome, 2010–19, 2 min YouTube
- Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - PerformanceNew York City, 2004, 39 min YouTube
- Barry Harris at Ford Piano2010, 10 min YouTube
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.