What Charlie Parker was to the saxophone, Bud Powell (1924-1966) was to the piano: No jazz pianist can rival his brilliance. But his life was filled with tragedy, including years of electroshock therapy in psychiatric institutions, illnesses, physical and mental abuse from people who fed him dangerous drugs to control him, and the indifference of his contemporaries to his genius. Francis Paudras, a young jazz fan who met Powell in the late 1950s, released him from his unfavorable surroundings, encouraged him to create some of his finest music, and took care of him as if he were his child....
What Charlie Parker was to the saxophone, Bud Powell (1924-1966) was to the piano: No jazz pianist can rival his brilliance. But his life was filled w...
