The Amazing Bud Powell Quotes

“the difficulties that ravaged the lives of many young African American men of Powell’s ilk: drug and alcohol abuse (or, in his case, self-medication), psychiatric (mis)treatment, and the criminal (in)justice system.”
― Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop (Music of the African Diaspora Book 17)

“In a phone interview in 1994, Celia Powell stressed two sentiments: music was her father’s life; it was the driving force of his existence, in her opinion. And she thought the music industry had very much taken advantage of him.121”
― Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop (Music of the African Diaspora Book 17)

“Critics use musical metaphors to describe his painterly technique, referring to it as “pure eye music” and noting his “lyrical touch.”
― Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop (Music of the African Diaspora Book 17)

“Gillespie would recall the California experience with his typical resolve, a quality that probably fostered the remarkable longevity of his career: “Sea to sea, America in 1945 was as backward a country musically as it was racially. Those of us who tried to push it forward had to suffer.”80”
― Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop (Music of the African Diaspora Book 17)