Bud Earl Powell, born on September 27, 1924 in Harlem New York, was a celebrated bebop pianist.  His father, William Powell, and grandfather were musicians.  His brother, William, plays trumpet and violin, and another brother, Richie, plays piano with Max Roach in 1954 before his tragic death in 1956.  

Powell left school at the age of 15 and began gigging around Coney Island, worked at Canada Lee’s Chicken Corp, and with Valaida Show and the Sunset Royals.  While the first experiments that led to bop were being conducted at Minton’s, Powell was a frequent visitor.  An incipient bop style was revealed on his first records made while he was with Cootie William’s band during 1943 to 1944.  After leaving Williams, he was in and out of the 52^nd St. scene for several years, but suffered the first of a series of nervous breakdowns in 1945.   He worked with John Kirby, Dizzy Gillespie, Allen Eager, Sid Catlett, Don Byas, and took part in many bop combo sessions for Savoy in the late 1940s.  From late 1947 he has spent much of his time in mental hospitals around New York City but was seen intermittently with a trio at Birdland and other clubs.  In 1959 his health greatly improved, and he spent much of the year in Paris, playing at the Chat Qui Pêche.    Late in the year he, Kenny Clarke and bassist Pierre Michelot formed a group called The Three Bosses.  He spent his later years from 1959 to 1964 in Paris, and he returned to New York in 1964 where he lived until his death on July 31, 1966 at the age of 41. 

Bud Powell’s status as the first and foremost of the bop pianists has seldom been disputed.  Charged with a fantastic dynamic energy allied with an incredibly fast flow of original ideas, he produced a series of solo albums that made him the idol of almost every young pianist.  Technically, he has shown a control and mastery of the keyboard, and tonal individuality in his attack, that no other pianist has quite succeeded in duplicating.  Powell counts Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Count Basie and other jazz veterans among his most ecstatic admirers.  As a composer he has contributed several attractive and unusual melodies, among them Hallucinations (also known as Budo), Oblivion and Glass Enclosure. 

Excerpts mainly taken from “Encyclopedia of Jazz” by Leonard G. Feather

Links to Bud Powell Site by Carl Smith - Author of Bouncing with Bud

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Quotes

“… delivers the gnarled tree of Powell's spiritual landscape with more inescapable truth than any of his professional recordings.“

- JazzTimes

"… It’s of definite individual musical interest.  Late Powell is remarkably solid, individual, with his own solo technique that young men might learn from. "

- PopMatters

"they are invaluable documents of this period of Powell’s slow decline; they should be heard in tandem with the emerging series on Fantasy, and all these recordings together must now be considered essential listening for anyone wishing to completely understand Bud Powell’s legacy.”

- OneFinalNote

"This is a valuable addition to Bud Powell's discography and is well worth picking up.

- All Music Guide

“With Eternity, we get to enjoy both his virtuosic displays and his compassionate musings—up close and personal.”

- All About Jazz

“This CD is highly recommended and I hope there are more recordings in Celia Powell’s care for future release.”

- Chattanoogapulse.com

“Eternity includes valuable last recordings of Bud Powell, without accompaniment or enhancement, that lay bare his concerns during the years he lived in Paris, recorded from 1961 to 1964.”

- Jazzreview.com

“…this new release is about the preservation of a genius' last gifts to the world, for that is truly what each and every Bud Powell performance was.  While the man's life was troubled, tragic and short, his music will live on for eternity.”

- JazzImprov Magazine