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111-932: According to reports, the total attendance was 240,000 people during Copenhagen Jazz Festival in 2004. In 2006 the number of concerts increased to 850, and today Copenhagen Jazz Festival numbers more than 100 venues, 1100 concerts, and approximately 260,000 guests, making it one of the largest music events in Europe. Musicians who have performed at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival include Sonny Rollins , Oscar Peterson , Ray Charles , Michel Petrucciani , Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen , Keith Jarrett , Wayne Shorter , Dizzy Gillespie , John Scofield , Herbie Hancock , Pat Metheny , Michel Camilo , Ornette Coleman , Annette Peacock , Svend Asmussen Quartet , Richard Bona , Tony Allen , Chick Corea and Daniel Puente Encina . The founding of Copenhagen Jazz Festival in 1979

222-525: A Paris nightclub with Pierre Michelot on bass and Kenny Clarke was well-received, but upon Powell's return to New York, his nightclub ban due to the cabaret card system in the American city made finding work difficult. He experienced further hospital stays in the U.S. before being convinced by Edwards to move to France in the spring of 1959. Powell moved to Paris in 1959 with Altevia "Buttercup" Edwards and her son, John. The couple and child moved into

333-556: A rent party , where he mimicked Fats Waller 's playing style. He enrolled in classical music competitions but was admired by jazz musicians and shifted toward jazz after leaving DeWitt Clinton High School . The first jazz composition that he mastered was James P. Johnson 's "Carolina Shout", but at an early age Powell developed an interest in adapting Broadway songs to jazz improvisation. His father made private tape recordings of him from 1934 to 1939; for these he played classical music and jazz standards. According to Francis Paudras ,

444-655: A 1947 letter to fellow pianist and Catholic Mary Lou Williams , he lamented the challenges of his early life but felt that "God had used a spy" that "lifted me out of the depth of shame." He became increasingly frustrated with life as a musician because he felt that he was being hired to play dinner music by white audiences that did not appreciate his talent. However, he remained known in musical circles as his mother had an apartment where she allowed musicians to stay. Hotels where Black musicians could stay were still in short supply, even in New York. Powell's only daughter, Celia,

555-869: A 1965 residency at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club were released by the Harkit label as Live in London ; they offer a very different picture of Rollins's playing from the studio albums of the period. (These are unauthorized releases, and Rollins has responded by "bootlegging" them himself and releasing them on his website.) Upon signing with Impulse! Records , he released a soundtrack to the 1966 film Alfie , as well as There Will Never Be Another You and Sonny Rollins on Impulse! After East Broadway Run Down (1966), which featured trumpeter Freddie Hubbard , bassist Jimmy Garrison , and drummer Elvin Jones , Rollins did not release another studio album for six years. In 1968, he

666-536: A Song: The 9/11 Concert . The band that year featured his nephew, trombonist Clifton Anderson , and included bassist Cranshaw, pianist Stephen Scott , percussionist Kimati Dinizulu , and drummer Perry Wilson. After a successful Japanese tour Rollins returned to the recording studio for the first time in five years to record the Grammy-nominated CD Sonny, Please (2006). The CD title is derived from one of his wife's favorite phrases. The album

777-437: A band with other future jazz legends Jackie McLean , Kenny Drew , and Art Taylor . After graduating from high school in 1948, Rollins began performing professionally; he made his first recordings in early 1949 as a sideman with the bebop singer Babs Gonzales (trombonist J. J. Johnson was the arranger of the group). Within the next few months, he began to make a name for himself, recording with Johnson and appearing under

888-646: A broad international audience. Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore " Sonny " Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins has recorded over sixty albums as a leader. A number of his compositions, including " St. Thomas ", " Oleo ", " Doxy ", and " Airegin ", have become jazz standards . Rollins has been called "the greatest living improviser". Due to health problems, Rollins has not performed publicly since 2012 and announced his retirement in 2014. Rollins

999-664: A district of Mumbai . He returned from his second sabbatical with a performance in Kongsberg , Norway, in 1971. Reviewing a March 1972 performance at New York's Village Vanguard night club, The New Yorker critic Whitney Balliett wrote that Rollins "had changed again. He had become a whirlwind. His runs roared, and there were jarring staccato passages and furious double-time spurts. He seemed to be shouting and gesticulating on his horn, as if he were waving his audience into battle." The same year, he released Next Album and moved to Germantown , New York. Also in 1972, he

1110-535: A father. Around the same time as this incident, the New York Supreme Court rescinded its claim that Powell was mentally incompetent, again enabling him to tour. Jazz historian Pierre-Emmanuel Seguin suggested that the removal of guardianship was an intentional move by Goodstein to marry Powell to Edwards and continue to control his musical engagements by proxy. Powell took part in the spring 1956 Birdland Tour organized by Morris Levy , for which he

1221-533: A friend of Powell's who heard the recordings, he had already developed his characteristic right-hand-focused approach to piano by that point. Bud became a friend of fellow jazz pianist Elmo Hope during his childhood. Powell and Hope performed hymns and Bach compositions for Hope's mother, who had a piano at her home, but also experimented with harmonic ideas such as flattened fifths. Powell's younger brother by seven years, Richie Powell , learned to play piano as well. The nickname "Bud," given to him by Richie,

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1332-587: A further live engagement with Griffin in Jullouville was released on Mythic Sound as Holidays in Edenville . Accompanied by Paudras, Powell returned to New York on August 16 and met Goodstein at JFK Airport . His engagement at Birdland with drummer Horace Arnold and bassist John Ore began on August 25 and included a repertoire of both jazz and classical music, particularly Bach. DownBeat 's Dan Morgenstern wrote an article on Powell following

1443-541: A letter to then-boyfriend "Kansas" Fields that Powell was suicidal, writing, "He told us before that he wanted to die, so there's not much I can do." While in Edwards's guardianship, Powell's health declined rapidly due to self-neglect and poor living conditions, and he was hospitalized at Laennec Hospital after escaping his guardianship. Powell was examined by a doctor; he claimed to be suffering from fatigue and revealed that he suffered from nightmares and heard voices. He

1554-657: A matinee with bassist Donald Bailey and drummer Pete LaRoca and an evening set with bassist Wilbur Ware and drummer Elvin Jones . Rollins used the trio format intermittently throughout his career, sometimes taking the unusual step of using his sax as a rhythm section instrument during bass and drum solos. Lew Tabackin cited Rollins's pianoless trio as an inspiration to lead his own. Joe Henderson , David S. Ware , Joe Lovano , Branford Marsalis , and Joshua Redman led pianoless sax trios. While in Los Angeles in 1957, Rollins met alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman and

1665-433: A medley of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach 's " Solfeggietto " and a composition of his own. Further productive sessions with Blue Note yielded Time Waits and The Scene Changes , becoming volumes 4 and 5 of The Amazing Bud Powell , respectively. Volumes 4 and 5 were notable for introducing new compositions to the pianist's repertoire including "Time Waits", "John's Abbey", and "Cleopatra's Dream". A November 1957 gig at

1776-533: A memorial concert for the young bass player. In December 1961, Powell recorded two albums for Columbia Records while in France: and A Portrait of Thelonious (1965) and A Tribute to Cannonball (1979). The Tribute to Cannonball session, which was recorded first, featured Don Byas and Cannonball Adderley on tenor and alto saxophone respectively, while Pierre Michelot on bass and drummer Kenny Clarke were present on both sessions. Meanwhile, Powell formed

1887-502: A neighboring expectant mother. Today, a fifteen-story apartment building named "The Rollins" stands on the Grand Street site where he lived. Almost every day from the summer of 1959 through the end of 1961, Rollins practiced on the bridge, next to the subway tracks. Rollins admitted that he would often practice for 15 or 16 hours a day, no matter what season. In the summer of 1961, the journalist Ralph Berton happened to pass by

1998-594: A performance at New York City's Beacon Theatre that reunited him with musicians with whom he played as a teenager, including McLean, Walter Bishop Jr. , Percy Heath , Connie Henry, and Gil Coggins . In 1997, he was voted "Jazz Artist of the Year" in the Down Beat magazine critics' poll. The following year, Rollins, a dedicated advocate of environmentalism , released an album entitled Global Warming . Critics such as Gary Giddins and Stanley Crouch have noted

2109-753: A performance with the Yomiuri Shimbun Orchestra in Japan of his Concerto for Saxophone and Symphony , a work composed in collaboration with the Finnish pianist and composer Heikki Sarmanto . In 1993, the Sonny Rollins International Jazz Archives opened at the University of Pittsburgh . New York City Hall proclaimed November 13, 1995, to be "Sonny Rollins Day". Several days later, Rollins gave

2220-401: A positive review from critic Thom Jurek. It was during his Birdland gig in 1953 that, according to Gitler, Powell began to show signs of mental illness; later accounts by Gitler and Seattle Ph.D. Fredric Harris indicate that the illness could have been epilepsy . Gitler also cites 1953 and 1954 as when Powell became less talkative, more withdrawn, and less technically able as a pianist. Powell

2331-417: A series of recording dates on which he first played his composition " Mediocre ". The recording was notable because Powell chose to follow its first chorus with "increasingly outré variations on the melody rather than soloing over the chords." The playing of these recording dates as a whole, however, was troubled, with a reviewer for DownBeat remarking, "his playing mirrors many of the tensions and many of

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2442-676: A session that resulted in eight masters ; Max Roach and Curly Russell were his accompanists. The recordings were released in 1950, when Roost Records bought the masters and released them on a series of 78 rpm records . Musicologist Guthrie Ramsey wrote of the session that "Powell proves himself the equal of any of the other beboppers in technique, versatility, and feeling." The first Blue Note session in August 1949 included trumpeter Fats Navarro , saxophone player Sonny Rollins , bassist Tommy Potter and drummer Roy Haynes , and it introduced Powell's compositions "Bouncing with Bud" and "Dance of

2553-531: A seven-week opening gig at Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass. A recording session in Copenhagen in 1962 produced another album, Bouncing with Bud , and the track " Hot House " from this album was listed as one of the "Five Essential Bud Powell Recordings" by NPR contributors Peter Pullman and Simon Rentner. SteepleChase Records released a five-volume CD of

2664-631: A tight range, and employing staccato and semi-detached notes. This is interrupted by a sudden flourish, utilizing a much wider range before returning to the former pattern. (Listen to the music sample.) In his book The Jazz Style of Sonny Rollins , David N. Baker explains that Rollins "very often uses rhythm for its own sake. He will sometimes improvise on a rhythmic pattern instead of on the melody or changes." Ever since recording "St. Thomas", Rollins's use of calypso rhythms has been one of his signature contributions to jazz; he often performs traditional Caribbean tunes such as "Hold 'Em Joe" and "Don't Stop

2775-519: A total of eight tunes produced by Norgran Records and re-released by Verve in 1957. The album led to a re-evaluation of Powell by DownBeat 's columnists, who remarked, "Bud is in increasing control over himself... [and] may be beginning a second career. I know that everybody in jazz hopes so." Powell's long-running gig at Storyville , a jazz club in Boston , ended in January 1956. On the last night of

2886-473: A tour of the South with his band. Among the tracks released was the first recording of Monk's " 'Round Midnight ", a tune Powell requested that Williams' band play. Powell frequently clashed with Williams over what tunes the band would play, and by the mid-1940s the pianist had shifted toward the bebop scene on 52nd Street . By the end of his time with Williams, Powell was the musical director and arranger for

2997-553: A tribute to their time together in Harlem. Monk, Powell, and Hope held jam sessions together at Monk's home in San Juan Hill , but as they only had one piano, they had to alternate playing. Powell worked as a pianist for dance bands , his incubation culminating in becoming the pianist for the swing orchestra of trumpeter Cootie Williams . Powell was the pianist on a handful of Williams's recording dates in 1944 and embarked on

3108-532: A troubled return to New York hastened his early death, aged 41, in 1966. The decades following his death saw his career and life story become the inspiration for films and written works, including Bertrand Tavernier 's Round Midnight . Many Powell compositions, including " Un Poco Loco ", " Bouncing with Bud ", and " Parisian Thoroughfare " have become jazz standards . Powell was born in Harlem , New York , United States. His date of birth on his birth certificate

3219-569: Is a nineteen-minute improvised bluesy suite; the other side of the album features hard bop workouts of popular show tunes. Oscar Pettiford and Max Roach provided bass and drums, respectively. The LP was available only briefly in its original form, before the record company repackaged it as Shadow Waltz , the title of another piece on the record. Following Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass ( Sonny Rollins Brass/Sonny Rollins Trio ), Rollins made one more studio album in 1958, Sonny Rollins and

3330-488: Is closely linked to the jazz scene that evolved in Copenhagen in the 1960s, when the city served as a European home for American jazz musicians like Dexter Gordon , Ben Webster and Kenny Drew . An inspired music scene attracted even more American musicians and educated and inspired the whole Danish scene as well. Through the 70s jazz music expanded in terms of genres and audiences, and reaching 1978 lawyer and project manager Poul Bjørnholt (from Københavns City Center) took

3441-803: Is estimated to have sometimes earned as much as $ 100,000 per performance. On September 18, 2007, he performed at Carnegie Hall in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of his first performance there. Appearing with him were Anderson (trombone), Bobby Broom (guitar), Cranshaw (bass), Dinizulu (percussion), Roy Haynes (drums) and Christian McBride (bass). Around 2000, Rollins began recording many of his live performances; since then, he has archived recordings of over two hundred and fifty concerts. To date, four albums have been released from these archives on Doxy Records and Okeh Records : Road Shows, Vol. 1 ; Road Shows, Vol. 2 (with four tracks documenting his 80th birthday concert, which included Rollins's first ever recorded appearance with Ornette Coleman on

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3552-584: Is his introduction to the tune "Autumn Nocturne" on the 1978 album Don't Stop the Carnival . By the 1980s, Rollins had stopped playing small nightclubs and was appearing mainly in concert halls or outdoor arenas; through the late 1990s he occasionally performed at large New York rock clubs such as Tramps and The Bottom Line . He added (uncredited) sax improvisations to three tracks by the Rolling Stones for their 1981 album Tattoo You , including

3663-503: Is the last surviving musician from the photo. The same year, Rollins recorded another landmark piece for saxophone, bass and drums trio: Freedom Suite . His original sleeve notes said, "How ironic that the Negro, who more than any other people can claim America's culture as his own, is being persecuted and repressed; that the Negro, who has exemplified the humanities in his very existence, is being rewarded with inhumanity." The title track

3774-463: The 2006 Grammy for Jazz Instrumental Solo for Rollins's performance of " Why Was I Born? " Rollins was presented with a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 2004; that year also saw the death of his wife, Lucille. In 2006, Rollins went on to complete a Down Beat Readers Poll triple win for: "Jazzman of the Year", "#1 Tenor Sax Player", and "Recording of the Year" for the CD Without

3885-569: The Birdland nightclub, but saw his health and piano playing affected by the antipsychotic medication Largactil , which he was prescribed as treatment for schizophrenia . A 1953 trio session for Blue Note with bassist George Duvivier and drummer Art Taylor included Powell's composition " Glass Enclosure ", a composition that critics have suggested was related to his near-imprisonment in Goodstein's apartment. Ira Gitler , however, attributes

3996-549: The Hotel La Louisiane , and she managed his finances and his medicine. The pianist received long-running club engagements upon arriving in Paris, and he began recording for Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française in several French cities with his trio. In December, Powell joined Art Blakey 's Jazz Messengers for a recorded concert released as Paris Jam Session (1961) and contributed two of his compositions, "Dance of

4107-587: The Modern Jazz Quartet , Charlie Parker , and Thelonious Monk . A breakthrough arrived in 1954 when he recorded his famous compositions "Oleo", "Airegin", and "Doxy" with a quintet led by Davis that also featured pianist Horace Silver , these recordings appearing on the album Bags' Groove . In 1955, Rollins entered the Federal Medical Center, Lexington . While there, he volunteered for then-experimental methadone therapy and

4218-525: The White House . It was also during this period that Rollins's passion for unaccompanied saxophone solos came to the forefront. In 1979 he played unaccompanied on The Tonight Show and in 1985 he released The Solo Album , recorded live at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He also frequently played long, extemporaneous unaccompanied cadenzas during performances with his band; a prime example

4329-465: The "desolation, melancholy, and anxiety" of this composition to his time in asylums . Powell played at Massey Hall in Toronto with The Quintet, including Charlie Parker , Dizzy Gillespie , Charles Mingus , and Max Roach , on May 15, 1953. The performance was recorded and released by Debut Records as the album Jazz at Massey Hall and was marketed as "The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever". While

4440-555: The 71-year-old Rollins, who lived several blocks away, heard the World Trade Center collapse , and was forced to evacuate his Greenwich Street apartment, with only his saxophone in hand. Although he was shaken, he traveled to Boston five days later to play a concert at the Berklee School of Music . The live recording of that performance was released on CD in 2005 as Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert , which won

4551-414: The Carnival", and he has written many original calypso-influenced compositions, such as "Duke of Iron", "The Everywhere Calypso", and "Global Warming". In 1956, he recorded Tenor Madness , using Davis's group – pianist Red Garland , bassist Paul Chambers , and drummer Philly Joe Jones . The title track is the only recording of Rollins with John Coltrane , who was also a member of Davis's group. At

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4662-472: The Contemporary Leaders , before taking a three-year break from recording. This was a session for Contemporary Records and saw Rollins recording an esoteric mixture of tunes including " Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody " with a West Coast group made up of pianist Hampton Hawes , guitarist Barney Kessel , bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Shelly Manne. In 1959 he toured Europe for

4773-541: The Infidels" and " Bouncing with Bud ", to the performance. Critic Betsy Reed noted the pianist's "pungent bop solos" and the concert's atmosphere of "heated live-show informality". In 1960, Powell was joined by Oscar Pettiford and Kenny Clarke on a German tour including the Essen Jazz Festival. The Essen concert, on which Coleman Hawkins was also featured on some tunes alongside the bebop pianist,

4884-474: The Infidels". He went to the studio again, this time for Prestige , in December, with alto saxophone player Sonny Stitt to record four sides for a quartet album. Powell and Stitt did a concert together on Christmas Day at Carnegie Hall with Miles Davis on trumpet that was titled " Symphony Sid 's Christmas Party". The event was announced and produced by Sid and Leonard Feather . In January 1950, Powell

4995-423: The January 1955 and September 1956 sessions he recorded for the label with his trio. In the 1956 DownBeat critics' poll of jazz pianists, Powell took a narrow second, slightly edged out by Art Tatum ; but he placed higher than Erroll Garner , Earl Hines , John Lewis , and Count Basie . In June 1956, Powell's younger brother Richie and trumpeter Clifford Brown were killed in a car crash. Bud, saddened by

5106-486: The Notes . Rollins has not performed in public since 2012, and retired in 2014, due to recurring respiratory issues caused by pulmonary fibrosis . Bud Powell Earl Rudolph " Bud " Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer . A pioneer in the development of bebop and its associated contributions to jazz theory, Powell's application of complex phrasing to

5217-707: The Three Bosses Trio with Clarke and Michelot for a regular gig at the Blue Note Club in Paris, and a compilation of recordings at the venue supplied the music for the album 'Round About Midnight at the Blue Note . Powell's performances at the club were mixed; Gitler claimed that he played his best music when other jazz musicians visited. In early 1962, Powell began a tour of Central Europe. After playing concerts in Geneva and Lausanne , he performed

5328-548: The Time and The Standard Sonny Rollins (which featured pianist Herbie Hancock ). In 1963, he made the first of many tours of Japan. In 1965, he married Lucille Pearson, born on July 25, 1928, in Kansas City, Missouri. She eventually became his very effective manager/producer. They moved (partially, then completely) from New York City to Germantown, New York, where she died November 27, 2004. In 2007, recordings from

5439-522: The adventurous performances at Clark Monroe's Uptown House , a venue near his home. This was where Charlie Parker first appeared as a solo act when the saxophone player briefly stayed in New York between stints with swing bands. Thelonious Monk played at Uptown House. When Monk met Powell he introduced Powell to musicians who were starting to play bebop at Minton's Playhouse . Monk was a resident pianist, and he presented Powell as his protégé. Their mutual affection grew, and Monk wrote " In Walked Bud " as

5550-523: The album Our Man in Paris (1963) and received the highest possible ratings from The Penguin Guide to Jazz , The Rolling Stone Album Guide , and The Encyclopedia of Popular Music . In July Powell recorded with his Three Bosses Trio of Michelot and Clarke, plus Gillespie, on the album Dizzy Gillespie and the Double Six of Paris (1963), but he subsequently became ill with tuberculosis and

5661-401: The album featuring Powell was described by critic Scott Yanow as "stirring" and was noted for its renditions of " Blue 'n Boogie " and " Anthropology ." A second Blue Note session attended by Powell in 1951 was a trio with Russell and Roach that included his originals " Parisian Thoroughfare " and " Un Poco Loco ". The latter was selected by literary critic Harold Bloom for his short list of

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5772-531: The band are Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street and Sonny Rollins Plus 4 . After the deaths of Brown and the band's pianist, Richie Powell , in a June 1956 automobile accident, Rollins continued playing with Roach and began releasing albums under his own name on Prestige Records , Blue Note , Riverside , and the Los Angeles label Contemporary . His widely acclaimed album Saxophone Colossus

5883-419: The broader musical community for his fluency and advanced technique. A severe beating by police in 1945 and years of electroconvulsive therapy treatments adversely impacted his mental health, but his recordings and live performances with Charlie Parker , Sonny Stitt , and Max Roach during the late 1940s and early 1950s were instrumental in shaping modern jazz piano technique. Following a partial recovery in

5994-456: The combination of emotion, memory, thought, and aesthetic design with a command that allows him to achieve spontaneous grandiloquence. With its brass body, its pearl-button keys, its mouthpiece, and its cane reed, the horn becomes the vessel for the epic of Rollins's talent and the undimmed power and lore of his jazz ancestors. Rollins won a 2001 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for This Is What I Do (2000). On September 11, 2001,

6105-590: The concert is best known for its first half performed by the full quintet, six of the tunes from the latter half of the performance were performed by the core trio of Powell, Mingus, and Roach and subsequently released on record. Powell's manager Goodstein arranged a regular gig at his Birdland club. However, Powell's alcoholism was a constant problem, and he recruited several groupies from Utah to prevent him from buying alcohol or stealing drinks. The club tape-recorded sessions from February to September of that year, and they were produced by Michael Anderson and received

6216-403: The disparity between Rollins the recording artist, and Rollins the concert artist. In a May 2005 New Yorker profile, Crouch wrote of Rollins the concert artist: Over and over, decade after decade, from the late seventies through the eighties and nineties, there he is, Sonny Rollins, the saxophone colossus, playing somewhere in the world, some afternoon or some eight o'clock somewhere, pursuing

6327-433: The end of his hospitalization, he had become sterile and suffered from severe amnesia , and was unable to remember details of his life prior to hospitalization. The New York Supreme Court declared Powell mentally incompetent , making him entirely dependent upon guardians to manage his money and performance schedule. In February 1953, Powell entered the guardianship and financial management of Oscar Goodstein, owner of

6438-400: The end of the year Rollins appeared as a sideman on Thelonious Monk's album Brilliant Corners and also recorded his own first album for Blue Note Records , entitled Sonny Rollins, Volume One , with Donald Byrd on trumpet, Wynton Kelly on piano, Gene Ramey on bass, and Roach on drums. In 1957, he married his first wife, actress and model Dawn Finney. That year, Rollins pioneered

6549-568: The engagement, noting, "the Bud Powell of 1964 is still a creative jazzman and pianist of the first rank." Morgenstern praised the pianist's loyalty to the bebop genre and the rapid recovery of his technique as the weeks of his long-running engagement passed. Powell recorded, albeit hesitantly, with Ore and drummer J. C. Moses in September 1964 for his album The Return of Bud Powell (1964), but disagreements between Powell and Moses plagued

6660-513: The fast bebop number "Strode Rode", and "Moritat" (the Kurt Weill composition also known as " Mack the Knife "). A long blues solo on Saxophone Colossus , "Blue 7", was analyzed in depth by the composer and critic Gunther Schuller in a 1958 article. In the solo for "St. Thomas", Rollins uses repetition of a rhythmic pattern , and variations of that pattern, covering only a few tones in

6771-656: The fearful perspectives that are with him in his more difficult times." He had forgotten standards he had played fluently prior to his 1951 hospitalization and relied upon others to serve as musical directors. Additionally, Powell was still under a guardianship and therefore lacked control over the release of his recordings, leading many to be released where he was confused or unable to play. Powell and his trio recorded an album, Piano Interpretations by Bud Powell , in April 1955 that included interpretations of jazz standards " Crazy Rhythm " and George Shearing 's " Conception " among

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6882-656: The first time, performing in Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and France. By 1959, Rollins had become frustrated with what he perceived as his own musical limitations and took the first – and most famous – of his musical sabbaticals . While living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, he ventured to the pedestrian walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge to practice, in order to avoid disturbing

6993-580: The first volume of his 10" album Bud Powell Trio for Roost Records with Curley Russell and Max Roach ; both musicians would play in his trio regularly during succeeding years. Charlie Parker chose Powell to be his pianist on a May 1947 quintet recording session with Miles Davis , Tommy Potter , and Max Roach ; this was the only studio session intended for release in which Parker and Powell played together. The two did reunite, however, in late 1947 with fellow saxophone player Allen Eager at Milton Greene's studio for an informal recorded jam session that

7104-531: The former's death, ended early when Parker and Powell had an argument. By mid-1954, Powell had resumed sessions for Norgran and Verve, recording alongside Duvivier, Taylor, Roach, Percy Heath , Lloyd Trotman , Art Blakey , Kenny Clarke , and Osie Johnson , in a series of albums produced for the two labels. Despite regular recording dates, the owners of Birdland maintained complete control over Powell's schedule, and they even introduced him to his later girlfriend Altevia "Buttercup" Edwards. In early 1955, he led

7215-430: The gig he met Toshiko Akiyoshi , a pianist who had recently moved to the U.S. from Japan. She became a friend of his in his later years and contributed to the liner notes of The Complete Bud Powell on Verve . In March of the same year, "Buttercup" Edwards in a paternity suit accused Powell of being the father of her son. Powell was arrested but later released on the basis that he was not biologically capable of being

7326-487: The greatest works of twentieth-century American art. After a bout of alcoholism and narcotic use in August 1951, he was arrested on what The Complete Bud Powell on Verve author Peter Pullman describes as false marijuana charges. While incarcerated he had an emotional outburst, leading to hospitalization at Pilgrim State Hospital . Powell was interrupted by another stay in a psychiatric facility from late 1951 to mid-1952 after being arrested for possession of heroin . He

7437-745: The growing jazz scene in France. Hentoff remarked that, in his opinion, Powell's constant touring was bad for his mental health, and that he needed psychotherapy while traveling due to the "grueling" nature of nightly performances. Attorney Cohen responded that Powell was the one who wanted to tour, and wrote that the pianist was recovering from his illness. Powell continued to perform at Birdland throughout fall 1956 and recorded for RCA Victor in late 1956 and early 1957. He returned to his trio with Duvivier and Taylor but, according to later comments from Duvivier, refused to talk to his bandmates, who played entire sets entirely by ear. According to Guthrie Ramsey Jr.,

7548-514: The initiative to Copenhagen Jazz Festival, when realizing how local jazz clubs, public spaces, theaters and large venues could contribute to this collaborative event. From 1979 and until the 90s the festival grew at a steady pace - making room for both international artists and local bands - and today Copenhagen Jazz Festival is its biggest ever with more than 100 venues in Copenhagen and over 1000 concerts. That makes Copenhagen Jazz Festival one of Copenhagen's most important public festivals, attracting

7659-489: The late 1940s, and the couple's daughter Celia. Powell's guardianship was transferred from Paudras to Bernard Stollman of ESP Records upon returning to New York, and with the exception of hospital visits, he remained at Barnes's home until shortly before his death in 1966. His few public performances between the end of 1964 and his death were adversely affected by his alcoholism and ongoing lung problems. Between Paudras's departure and Powell's final hospitalization in

7770-472: The leadership of pianist Bud Powell , alongside trumpeter Fats Navarro and drummer Roy Haynes , on a seminal " hard bop " session. In early 1950, Rollins was arrested for armed robbery and spent ten months in Rikers Island jail before being released on parole; in 1952, he was re-arrested for violating the terms of his parole by using heroin. Between 1951 and 1953, he recorded with Miles Davis ,

7881-647: The loss of his brother, fell from the public view of American jazz musicians and critics, particularly after his Verve contract ended in September. In November, he began a tour of Europe with the Birdland All-Stars in addition to Miles Davis , the Modern Jazz Quartet , and Lester Young starring throughout the performances. His performances in Paris, and particularly at the Salle Pleyel , were short due to his ill health, but they influenced pianists René Urtreger and Francis Paudras and contributed to

7992-447: The mid to late 1950s, Powell's relocation to Paris in 1959 contributed to the community of African-American expatriates fleeing racism and barriers to a higher standard of living. He returned to a regular recording schedule, toured across Northern and Central Europe, and made records, before becoming ill with tuberculosis in 1963. Despite the friendship and protection of French jazz aficionado Francis Paudras , mental health crises and

8103-610: The nickname "Newk" because of his facial resemblance to Brooklyn Dodgers star pitcher Don Newcombe . In 1957, he made his Carnegie Hall debut and recorded again for Blue Note with Johnson on trombone, Horace Silver or Monk on piano and drummer Art Blakey (released as Sonny Rollins, Volume Two ). That December, he and fellow tenor saxophonist Sonny Stitt were featured together on Dizzy Gillespie 's album Sonny Side Up . In 1958, he appeared in Art Kane 's A Great Day in Harlem photograph of jazz musicians in New York; he

8214-514: The pain, as a result, developing an addiction that would haunt him for the rest of his life. After attempts by Powell's mother and his girlfriend Frances Barnes to treat his severe headaches, he admitted himself to Bellevue Hospital . Following medical evaluation at Bellevue, he was transferred to Creedmoor State Hospital and was institutionalized with alcoholics, drug addicts, and permanently institutionalized residents. Fellow pianist and composer Elmo Hope , who visited Powell regularly while he

8325-719: The pianist's trio from a two-night April engagement at the Golden Circle, a nightclub in Stockholm . Following a summer touring Scandinavia , Powell returned to Paris in the fall of 1962 but was kept under the guardianship of Edwards. He was tracked down by biographer and pianist Francis Paudras , who believed that Powell had been abused by his common-law wife Edwards during the couple's preceding years together. Paudras noted in his biography that she had kept control over his finances and clothes and given Powell tranquilizers to make him dependent. Edwards, for her part, claimed in

8436-545: The piano influenced both his contemporaries and later pianists including Walter Davis Jr. , Toshiko Akiyoshi , and Barry Harris . Born in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance to a musical family, Powell, during the 1930s, developed an attacking, right-handed approach to the piano, which marked a break from the left-handed approach of stride and ragtime that had been prevalent. Upon joining trumpeter Cootie Williams 's band in 1943, he received attention from

8547-535: The previous one. The 1962 disc What's New? explored Latin rhythms. On the album Our Man in Jazz , recorded live at The Village Gate , he explored avant-garde playing with a quartet that featured Cranshaw on bass, Billy Higgins on drums and Don Cherry on cornet. He also played with a tenor saxophone hero, Coleman Hawkins , and free jazz pianist Paul Bley on Sonny Meets Hawk! , and he re-examined jazz standards and Great American Songbook melodies on Now's

8658-428: The reason for Powell's uncommunicativeness was a need to focus more intently on his playing and to avoid losing his way throughout song forms. In late 1957, Powell recorded volume 3 of his series The Amazing Bud Powell with Paul Chambers , Art Taylor, and trombonist Curtis Fuller for what jazz critic Scott Yanow described as an "inspiring" and "strong set". Powell's Vol. 3 composition " Bud on Bach " included

8769-572: The recording session. After a severe illness prevented Powell from completing scheduled nights at Birdland, he was fired on October 11. Paudras and Barry Harris arranged for Powell to return to France to recover, but Powell – who feared the medical checkups that were scheduled prior to leaving – went missing by hitching rides, possibly in search of his old friend Elmo Hope, who took him to his home shortly after Powell went missing. Paudras returned to France on October 27 without Powell, who decided to stay in New York with Frances Barnes, his girlfriend from

8880-514: The saxophonist on the bridge one day and published an article in Metronome magazine about the occurrence. During this period, Rollins became a dedicated practitioner of yoga . Rollins ended his sabbatical in November 1961. He later said "I could have probably spent the rest of my life just going up on the bridge. I realized, no, I have to get back into the real world." In 2016, a campaign

8991-528: The single, " Waiting on a Friend " and the long jam " Slave ". That November, he led a saxophone masterclass on French television. In 1983, he was honored as a "Jazz Master" by the National Endowment for the Arts . In 1986, documentary filmmaker Robert Mugge released a film titled Saxophone Colossus . It featured two Rollins performances: a quintet concert at Opus 40 in upstate New York and

9102-465: The start of a contract with RCA Victor . Produced by George Avakian , the disc was recorded with a quartet featuring guitarist Jim Hall , Ben Riley on drums, and bassist Bob Cranshaw . This became one of Rollins's best-selling records; in 2015 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame . Rollins's contract with RCA Victor lasted through 1964. Each album he recorded differed radically from

9213-628: The summer of 1966, several recording sessions were made with Powell, but with the exception of the album Ups 'n Downs , the recordings from these dates were not released. A Charlie Parker tribute concert at Carnegie Hall in March 1965 and a May performance at the New York Town Hall revealed his poor health and its effect on his ability to play. However, his Town Hall performance received positive feedback from attendee Dan Morgenstern , who noted, "his final selection, ' I Remember Clifford ',

9324-484: The trumpeter's band. After a performance with Williams's band, Powell wandered near Broad Street Station and was apprehended, drunk, by the private railroad police. He was beaten up by them and incarcerated briefly by the city police, but as his headaches persisted, he moved to his family's second home in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania . He suffered constant pain from his head wounds and turned to alcohol to relieve

9435-652: The twenty-minute "Sonnymoon for Two"); Road Shows, Vol. 3 ; and Holding the Stage , released in April 2016. In 2010 Rollins was awarded the National Medal of Arts and the Edward MacDowell Medal ; in the fall of the same year he celebrated his 80th birthday with a concert at New York's Beacon Theatre that included a guest appearance by Ornette Coleman. The following year he was the subject of another documentary by Dick Fontaine, entitled Beyond

9546-523: The two of them practiced together. Coleman, a pioneer of free jazz , stopped using a pianist in his own band two years later. By this time, Rollins had become well-known for improvising based on relatively banal or unconventional songs (such as " There's No Business Like Show Business " on Work Time , " Toot, Toot, Tootsie " on The Sound of Sonny , and later " Sweet Leilani " on the Grammy-winning album This Is What I Do ). Rollins acquired

9657-605: The two sessions included his compositions "Tempus Fugit" and "Celia", an up-tempo version of the jazz standard " Cherokee ", " Get Happy ", and " All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm ". The first session was described by critic John White as "feverish" while the later session was "restrained but moving". Powell joined Charlie Parker and Fats Navarro at Birdland for One Night in Birdland , a live album performed shortly before Navarro's death from tuberculosis in July 1950. The live engagement

9768-619: The use of bass and drums, without piano, as accompaniment for his saxophone solos, a texture that came to be known as "strolling". Two early tenor/bass/drums trio recordings are Way Out West and A Night at the Village Vanguard , both recorded in 1957. Way Out West was so named because it was recorded for California-based Contemporary Records (with Los Angeles drummer Shelly Manne ), and because it included country and western songs such as " Wagon Wheels " and " I'm an Old Cowhand ". The Village Vanguard album consists of two sets,

9879-496: Was a corruption of "brother". Older brother William played trumpet and violin and brought Bud, by now 15 years old, into his band. With this experience, Bud began a professional career; his first gig was as an accompanist for jazz singer Valaida Snow . Powell also appeared in performances at Coney Island and Canada Lee 's Chicken Coop and played with a group known as the Sunset Royals. In his youth Powell listened to

9990-459: Was a pianist who had "made records" led to his dismissal as a fantasist , and in psychiatric interviews, he expressed feelings of persecution founded in racism . He received electroconvulsive therapy while institutionalized, but was released after eleven months. Jackie McLean , a young alto saxophone player who admired the pianist's ability and helped protect him, befriended Powell around 1947. Powell may have been religious at this time; in

10101-606: Was able to break his heroin habit, after which he lived for a time in Chicago , briefly rooming with the trumpeter Booker Little . Rollins initially feared sobriety would impair his musicianship, but then went on to greater success. Rollins briefly joined the Miles Davis Quintet in the summer of 1955. Later that year, he joined the Clifford Brown – Max Roach quintet; studio albums documenting his time in

10212-644: Was again hospitalized. After treatment, he was transferred to Bouffémont Sanitorium – later renamed the Jacques-Arnaud Medical Center – to recover, and he performed several recitals for the students and staff during his stay. A benefit concert was held to raise funds for his hospital stay; Johnny Griffin , Donald Byrd , Sonny Criss , and Jean-Luc Ponty performed. Jef Gilson played Powell's most recent composition. Powell completed further recording dates, including two with Paudras on makeshift brushes , during his last year in France;

10323-439: Was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in composition. During the 1970s and 1980s, he also became drawn to R&B, pop, and funk rhythms. Some of his bands during this period featured electric guitar, electric bass, and usually more pop- or funk-oriented drummers. In 1974, Rollins added jazz bagpiper Rufus Harley to his band; the group was filmed performing live at Ronnie Scott's in London. For most of this period Rollins

10434-407: Was back in the studio with Stitt to record more of their joint album, but it was Powell's trio recording the following month that contributed to his famous album Jazz Giant (1950). Part of the album had been recorded with bassist Ray Brown on a daytime release from hospital in 1949, while the 1950 session was recorded with Curley Russell. Roach was present on drums for both sessions. Tracks from

10545-504: Was born in 1948; Powell named one of his compositions after her. Following her father's death in 1966 she worked as a movie consultant for Round Midnight and founded the Mythic Sound record label. After a brief hospitalization in early 1949, Powell made several recordings over the next two and a half years, most of them for Blue Note , Mercury , Norgran , and Clef. He also recorded that summer for two independent producers,

10656-830: Was born in New York City to parents from the Virgin Islands . The youngest of three siblings, he grew up in central Harlem and on Sugar Hill , receiving his first alto saxophone at the age of seven or eight. He attended Edward W. Stitt Junior High School and graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem . Rollins started as a pianist, then switched to alto saxophone after being inspired by Louis Jordan and finally switched to tenor saxophone in 1946, influenced by his idol Coleman Hawkins . During his high school years, he played in

10767-409: Was briefly married to Audrey Hill, but they separated and divorce proceedings were never finalized. Powell and Charlie Parker developed a rivalry that resulted in feuding and bitterness on the bandstand, likely caused at least in part by the pianist's worsening physical and mental health. One of his few New York engagements during this time, with Parker and Kenny Dorham in March 1955 shortly before

10878-449: Was extremely moving ... Powell hasn't lost his marvelous touch and sound, and everything he played revealed a sense of balance and proportion." His last studio recordings, with Rashied Ali on drums, also went unreleased by the ESP label due to Powell being in "terrible shape". Several musicians visited Powell while he was ill, including Toshiko Akiyoshi and Art Taylor . Akiyoshi noted in

10989-849: Was hospitalized, became concerned by Creedmoor's forced administration of tranquilizers and sleeping pills and their negative impact upon Powell's health. Hope arranged for his medical care to be transferred to a jazz aficionado who let him play piano regularly and even perform a concert to show his lucidity. After the concert, he was released and resumed playing in Manhattan. In 1945–1946 Powell recorded with Frank Socolow , Sarah Vaughan , Dexter Gordon , J. J. Johnson , Sonny Stitt , Fats Navarro , and Kenny Clarke . Powell became known for his sight-reading and his skill at fast tempos. In an incident in 1945, Monk falsely confessed to using drugs Powell had used in order to protect his friend from losing his cabaret card . In January 1947, Powell recorded

11100-531: Was incorrectly listed as 1922, but he was born in 1924. Zachary, his grandfather, was a flamenco guitarist and Spanish-American War veteran. His father William was a stride pianist. Powell began to take classical piano lessons at the age of five. His teacher, hired by his father, was a West Indian man named William Rawlins. As Powell was an altar boy at a Catholic church in Harlem, he also learned to play church organ. At 10 years of age, Powell showed interest in swing music , and he first appeared in public at

11211-641: Was initiated that seeks to have the bridge renamed in Rollins's honor. In November 1961, Rollins returned to the jazz scene with a residency at the Jazz Gallery in Greenwich Village ; in March, 1962, he appeared on Ralph Gleason 's television series Jazz Casual . During the 1960s, he lived on Willoughby Street in Brooklyn , New York. He named his 1962 "comeback" album The Bridge at

11322-484: Was joined by bassist Joe Benjamin and drummer Roy Haynes . Nat Hentoff , writing for DownBeat , noted that during the Tour, Powell's style appeared to have become calmer and more lucid, contrasting with the turbulence of his playing in previous years. According to pianists Barry Harris and Michael Weiss and writer Peter Pullman, who analyzed all of Powell's recordings on Verve, his playing improved dramatically between

11433-441: Was noted for its "brilliant...all-star lineup [that] clearly inspired" the musicians in the quintet. A trio recording with Buddy Rich on drums and a big band session with Sarah Vaughan and Norman Leyden 's Orchestra concluded Powell's recording schedule in 1950. Powell was once again recorded at Birdland for the live album Summit Meeting at Birdland (1978) with Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet and Parker on saxophone. The half of

11544-594: Was recorded by producer Orrin Keepnews for Milestone Records (the compilation Silver City: A Celebration of 25 Years on Milestone contains a selection from these years). In 1978 he, McCoy Tyner , Ron Carter , and Al Foster toured together as the Milestone Jazzstars. In June of that year he joined many other major jazz artists in a performance for President Jimmy Carter on the South Lawn of

11655-476: Was recorded live at the Grugahalle and released as The Essen Jazz Festival Concert (1988) on CD . The album received high marks from jazz critic Scott Yanow as a "fine example" of his piano playing. In July of that year, Powell joined Charles Mingus' band for a filmed concert at Antibes alongside Eric Dolphy and Booker Ervin . Pettiford's death in 1960 was a major blow for Powell, and he played in

11766-462: Was recorded on June 22, 1956, at Rudy Van Gelder 's studio in New Jersey, with Tommy Flanagan on piano, former Jazz Messengers bassist Doug Watkins , and his favorite drummer, Roach. This was Rollins's sixth recording as a leader and it included his best-known composition " St. Thomas ", a Caribbean calypso based on "Hold Him Joe" a tune sung to him by his mother in his childhood, as well as

11877-476: Was released on Rollins's own label, Doxy Records, following his departure from Milestone Records after many years and was produced by Anderson. Rollins's band at this time, and on this album, included Cranshaw, guitarist Bobby Broom , drummer Steve Jordan and Dinizulu. During these years, Rollins regularly toured worldwide, playing major venues throughout Europe, South America, the Far East, and Australasia; he

11988-457: Was released under Eager's name. In November 1947, Powell had an altercation with a customer at a bar in Harlem. In the ensuing fight, Powell was hit over his eye with a bottle. He was taken to Harlem Hospital, where he was found to be "incoherent and rambunctious", and so was moved to Bellevue, which had a record of his previous confinement there and at a psychiatric hospital. He spent eleven months at Creedmore. Attempts to tell hospital staff he

12099-543: Was released under the care of Paudras, who incrementally took him off Largactil, an antipsychotic that may have contributed to his fatigue. Powell made a series of record dates throughout spring and early summer 1963, including a Frank Sinatra -sponsored and Duke Ellington -produced trio recording with Gilbert Rovere and "Kansas" Fields in February and an album with tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon in May. The latter became

12210-455: Was the subject of a television documentary (in the series Creative Persons ), directed by Dick Fontaine , entitled Who is Sonny Rollins? In 1969, Rollins took another two-year sabbatical from public performance. During this hiatus period, he visited Jamaica for the first time and spent several months studying yoga , meditation , and Eastern philosophies at an ashram in Powai , India,

12321-435: Was transferred to Creedmoor Hospital in 1952 and was not permanently released until 1953. Although Powell's only daughter with Frances Barnes, Celia, had been born around the time of his hospitalization, his alleged mental incompetency made him legally unable to recognize her as his daughter. Creedmoor again administered electroconvulsive therapy on Powell, and his ability to practice piano was restricted by hospital staff. By

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