Richie Powell in 1954

August 11, 2015

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Pianist Bud Powell not only helped invent bebop piano in the mid-1940s but also established a new, spidery playing style that influenced a generation of players on both coasts right up until Bill Evans' cooler introspection in the late 1950s. In the first 10 years of his small-group career, from 1946 to 1956, Powell overshadowed his younger brother, Richie Powell, who was seven years his junior. [Pictured above, Richie Powell leaning over French pianist Bernard Peiffer in January 1956 at Olivia's Patio Lounge in Washington, D.C.]

Pianist Richie Powell is best known as the pianist in the famed Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet, which gave hard bop a singular lyricism and sophistication between 1954 and 1956. On June 26, 1956, Nancy Powell, Richie's 19-year-old wife, took the wheel of a car so that Brown, 26, and Powell, 24,  could sleep en route to Chicago. On a rain-soaked Pennsylvania Turnpike, Nancy lost control of the vehicle, and all three were killed. [Richie Powell pictured center, seated in black shirt]

As a result, very little of Richie Powell remains in solo or trio formats to gauge his promise. There are no leadership dates, just his brief solos on the Brown-Roach recordings for EmArcy. There is one exception, however: A trio performance of Autumn in New York on a Johnny Hodges' album called Used to Be Duke, which was recorded on Aug. 5, 1954 for Norman Granz's Norgran label.

Powell's Autumn in New York is regal, bouncy and appropriately lush, with shades of Erroll Garner, Al Haig and Richie's brother, Bud. Joining Powell are Johnny Williams (b) and Louie Bellson (d). If you listen to the remainder of the ballad track, you'll hear Richie behind Johnny Hodges (above) on Sweet Lorraine, Shorty Baker on Time on My Hands, Harry Carney on Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Jimmy Hamilton on If You Were Mine and Lawrence Brown on Poor Butterfly.

In Autumn in New York, we clearly hear a dramatic, playful pianist who was fast becoming an extraordinary talent. Such a tragic loss.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find the six ballad tracks mentioned above, featuring Richie Powell, on Used to Be Duke here. The balance of the album features Call Cobbs on piano.

JazzWax clips: Here's Richie Powell recording Autumn in New York in Los Angeles on Aug. 5, 1954...

For a comparison, here's his older brother Bud Powell recording the same song nine days later in New York on Aug. 14, 1954. Makes one wonder whether Bud's choice was a result of a conversation he had with Richie prior to recording...

Used with permission by Marc Myers