Bud Powell

USA, 1942–1966

American pianist (1924-1966) who worked out how bebop could be played on a keyboard: long single-note lines in the right hand over sparse stabbed chords in the left, with stride abandoned entirely. Often called the Charlie Parker of the piano.

MusicRoots documents 4 artists who influenced Bud Powell and 2 artists Bud Powell influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Bud Powell?

• Art Tatum — Powell called Tatum the only jazz pianist who beat him technically, and was imitating him by ten.
• Fats Waller — The stride Powell learned first and then deliberately threw away — his left hand stops keeping time and starts punctuating.
• Earl Hines — One of the two pianists named as Powell's early inspiration, and the source of the trumpet-style right hand he took to its limit.
• Thelonious Monk — Monk found him at fifteen and mentored him — the friendship that put Powell inside bebop as it was being invented.

Which artists did Bud Powell influence?

• Bill Evans — Evans called Powell his single greatest influence, in a 1964 interview — which is not the answer anyone expects from the man who made Kind of Blue sound French.
• Clare Fischer — The bebop line in Fischer's playing, named alongside the composers.