JAZZ: The King of the Hill

Two multi-CD sets of recordings by bebop pianist Bud Powell chart the brilliant, tormented career of a great innovator

There is soul and fuddle here. Heat and hesitation. The grace of real genius and at times a touch of madness. Among the five CDs that constitute The Complete Bud Powell On Verve and the four that make up The Complete Blue Note and Roost Recordings (Capitol), you get a deep experience of his gift and his torment. It is, much of it, great jazz. All of it is vital. These separate CD sets are neither monument nor memorial, even though this year marks the 70th anniversary of Powell's birth. Rather, the recordings provide a map of trails blazed. There are...

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