Mel Powell
piano
American swing pianist of the 1940s, known for his work with Benny Goodman and later as a classical composer; Barry pointed to a record of his with a drummer and no bass player as an example of how brilliant the older players were.
- mentions
- 3
- recordings
- 1
- Barry speaking
- 2
What Barry says
Asked how the drummers of his youth handled the bass drum, Barry brings up a record he had just found: Mel Powell with a drummer whose name he did not know and no bass player. The drummer keeps four beats with his foot while Powell plays stride, on Sweet Georgia Brown.
He tells the interviewer he has to hear that record: it shows how brilliant the earlier players were and how much his own generation had to learn from them, and that they learned from the right people.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle8:30
When the interviewer comes back to the record and asks how such a group kept time without a bass, Barry says the drummers of that time played four on the bass-drum pedal and the guitar kept time, and that is how his generation learned to swing.
In his own words
Well, man, let me tell you, there’s a record of Mel Powell... and a drummer. I don’t know the drummer’s name, but it’s a record, no bass player
And Mel Powell is striding... they’re playing Sweet Georgia Brown. My brother, you had to hear that record.
Then you’d see that our music was really brilliant, we had a lot to learn. Those cats were all brilliant. So we learned from the right people
You got the guitar player keeping time. You got the drummer playing 4-4. Man, you learned to swing with that.
Every mention
3 moments in the recordings, 2 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.