Wail Quotes

“It could have been the toothless, haggard look that attracted some: Powell was looking more and more the part of the gently decaying, venerated jazzman whom so many photographers liked to capture and fans to romanticize about.”
― Peter Pullman, Wail: The Life of Bud Powell

“Aside from what he calls Powell’s “perpetual fog”, he had noticed his leader’s annoying habit of chewing his lips a lot (which involuntary, repetitive motion is one of the symptoms of habitual reliance on chlorpromazine).”
― Peter Pullman, Wail: The Life of Bud Powell

“It was really a very small window in which all of this bebop creativity happened. It took place in a few years on a few blocks. A lot of hectic activity, by some intensely creative, even desperate, souls, all working in that small window of time and space.”
― Peter Pullman, Wail: The Life of Bud Powell

“There was no chance that these three were going to prepare at all before they took the stage. In fact there was a good chance that they wouldn’t even speak before they started and, even if they did, they wouldn’t discuss anything musical.”
― Peter Pullman, Wail: The Life of Bud Powell

“bebop at its core: It wasn’t just art for art’s sake but art that could show contempt for its audience.”
― Peter Pullman, Wail: The Life of Bud Powell

“Powell to say: “ ‘I wish I was blacker. I’d like to be as black as you are, Miles.’”(3)”
― Peter Pullman, Wail: The Life of Bud Powell