Bud Powell: Hallucinations
Track
Hallucinations (aka "Budo")
Artist
Bud Powell (piano)
CD
The Definitive Bud Powell (Blue Note 40042)
Recorded: New York, February 1951
Rating: 99/100 (learn more)
During a 1945 fracas resulting in his arrest for disorderly conduct, Bud Powell was reportedly bopped on the head by what author Scott Yanow calls "racist police," who thus caused the mental illness that haunted Powell for the rest of his life. Frederick J. Spencer, M.D., though, is unconvinced. "How much this affected Bud's behavior is debatable, as he had been mentally disturbed prior to his arrest." Whatever its cause, Powell's irrationality produced several psychiatric institutionalizations, one lasting a year and including electroconvulsive therapy. How, then, to explain the illimitable lucidity of "Hallucinations"? On this track, Bud's the bop Descartes.
Reviewer: Alan Kurtz
Tags: solo piano
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