Mel Powell

Music Encyclopedia: Mel Powell

(b New York, 12 Feb 1923). American composer. He was a pupil of Hindemith at Yale, where he taught (1958-69) before moving to the California Institute of the Arts. His works, in many genres, have used serial and electronic means, and several of them reflect his own experience as a jazz pianist.

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Artist: Mel Powell

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Similar Artists:

André Previn, Dave Brubeck, Billy Taylor, Gunther Schuller, Lennie Tristano, Oscar Peterson, John Lewis, Stan Kenton, Milton Babbitt, Peter Nero, Charles Wuorinen, Ernst Krenek

Influenced By:

Ernst Toch, Paul Hindemith

Followers:

Lois V. Vierk

Performed Songs By:

Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin

Worked With:

Bernie Privin, Glenn Miller, Jimmy Maxwell, Chuck Gentry, Lou McGarity, Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman

Born: February 12, 1923, New York, NY
Died: April 24, 1998, Van Nuys, CA
Active: '40s, '50s, '60s, '80s
Genres: Jazz
Instrument: Piano, Arranger
Representative Albums: "The World Is Waiting," "Unavailable Mel Powell," "Piano Prodigy"
Representative Songs: "Cookin' One Up," "Gone With the Wind," "Thigamagig"

Biography

One of the finest swing pianists and a prodigy, Mel Powell was playing piano and writing important arrangements for Benny Goodman by the time he was 18. He had previously played with Bobby Hackett, George Brunis, and Zutty Singleton (1939), was the intermission pianist at Nick's, and worked in the short-lived Muggsy Spanier big band. During his stay with B.G., Powell and the clarinetist struck up a lifelong friendship; among his arrangements for Goodman were "The Earl," "Mission to Moscow," "Clarinade," and "Jersey Bounce." After a period working for the CBS Orchestra under Raymond Scott (1942), Powell was one of the stars of the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. Powell, whose style was reminiscent of Teddy Wilson's, recorded with Goodman during 1945-1947, led a few record dates (his first one was in 1942), and worked in the studios. However, after studying with Paul Hindemith at Yale (1952), he switched his career and became a classical composer. Powell did record some superior jazz dates for Vanguard during 1953-1955 and sat in with Bobby Hackett in the mid-'60s, but was otherwise occupied completely outside of jazz. After decades of work as a well-respected serial composer, Mel Powell returned to jazz for cruises in 1986 and 1987 that were recorded by Chiaroscuro. He continued composing and performing even after being diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1990. Eight years later, on April 24, Melvin Epstein died in the Los Angeles area. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Wikipedia: Mel Powell

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Mel Powell (born Melvin Epstein, February 12, 1923 in the Bronx, New York City – April 24, 1998 in Sherman Oaks, California) was a jazz pianist and composer of classical music.

Powell was born to Russian Jewish parents and began playing piano as a child, and performed jazz professionally in New York City as a teenager. In 1941-42 he played, composed, and arranged for Benny Goodman. A member of Glenn Miller's Army Air Corps Band in 1943-45, he played with Django Reinhardt in Paris at war's end. Powell briefly returned to Goodman's band, then worked in Hollywood after World War II and married actress Martha Scott. In 1948 he played himself in the movie "A Song Is Born" as the jazz pianist working with Benny Goodman. In this movie he worked along with many other famous jazz players including Louis Armstrong. After studying at Yale with Paul Hindemith in 1948-1952 he all but gave up jazz for classical composition. He was a member of the composition faculty at Yale from 1958 to 1969, a founder of the Yale Electronic Music Studio and a founding editor of Perspectives of New Music. In 1969 he moved to California to serve as founding dean of the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA. After serving as acting head of the Institute he was awarded the Roy O. Disney Professorship of music, and taught and composed at CalArts until his death. In 1990 he received the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his concerto for two pianos and orchestra, Duplicates.

In 1987 he returned to jazz to play a jazz festival on the cruise ship SS Norway with Benny Carter, Howard Alden, Milt Hinton, and Louie Bellson. One performance has been documented on the CD release "The Return of Mel Powell" (Chiaroscuro records). This CD includes twenty minutes of Powell discussing his life and his reasons for leaving jazz.

His notable students include Justin Connolly, Brian Fennelly, Walter Hekster, Sean Griffin, Arturo Marquez, Cesar Mateus, Lewis Spratlan, Lois V Vierk, John Ferritto, Sally Lamb and Steven Hoey.

Quotes

"Serious new music, like serious old music, isn't made to be dribbled around in a basketball arena."

"The musician's business is structure..."^[1]

"The musician...is...therefore drawn to a profound science of structure. Looking closely at music itself, he is likely to ask: What changes? When? By how much?...he is...able to feel at home where logicians exhibit techniques for isolating relevant structure."^[2]

References

^ Mel Powell, "A Note on Rigor," Perspectives of New Music, Spring 1963, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 121.
^ Mel Powell, "A Note on Rigor," Perspectives of New Music, Spring 1963, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 121-122.

External links

G. Schirmer: Mel Powell Composer profile and work list
A Multifaceted Musical Personality
Art of the States: Mel Powell Immobiles (1967)
GreenManReview.com Review of Powell's The Best Things In Life (Vanguard Records, 1999) by Danny Cohen
LA Times Obituary 4/25/98, p. 22 (Home edition).
Solfege, ear training, rhythm, dictation, and music theory : a comprehensive course / Marta Árkossy Ghezzo ; preface by Mel Powell.
[http://livingroom.org/archive/old/0313.html Mel Powell:Remembered by his students}
Mel Powell NPR obituary

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