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Blue Note · 1956

The Amazing Bud Powell, Volume 1

Bud Powell

Recorded: August 8, 1949 & May 1, 1951   Original cat#: BLP 1503
Bud Powell — The Amazing Bud Powell, Volume 1 album cover

Powell is widely regarded as the single most influential pianist in the development of bebop, translating the harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were developing on horns into an entirely new way of playing jazz piano. These Blue Note sessions, made as producer Alfred Lion's first substantial investment in Powell as a leader, are generally considered his definitive studio statements.

Best early pressing for audiophiles: an original Blue Note BLP 1503 mono (1955/56) – see above on the tangled multi-format history of this title.

Best modern pressing for audiophiles: contested between the Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series and a separate Music Matters edition – see below.

Best-value modern: the Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series – all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray, pressed at Optimal in Germany.

A note on this title's tangled discography before anything else

This title's history is genuinely complicated, and it's worth understanding before buying a copy. Powell recorded three sessions for Blue Note: August 8, 1949 (quintet with Fats Navarro and Sonny Rollins, plus trio cuts), May 1, 1951 (trio with Curley Russell and Max Roach, plus solo tracks), and August 14, 1953 (trio with George Duvivier and Art Taylor). The first two sessions were originally combined onto a single 10" LP, simply titled The Amazing Bud Powell (Blue Note BLP 5003, 1952) – not labeled "Volume 1" at the time, since there was nothing to distinguish it from yet. The third session got its own separate 10" LP two years later, The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2 (BLP 5041, 1954).

When Blue Note discontinued the 10" format in 1955, the label recompiled all three sessions across two new 12" LPs: Volume 1 (BLP 1503, released March 1956) and Volume 2 (BLP 1504, released the following month). Wikipedia's own chronology describes BLP 1503 as compiling material from all three session dates, including some 1953 material. Two independent retail sources describing the actual product, though – Blue Note's own official store page and a separate Elusive Disc product listing for a Blue Note 75th Anniversary vinyl reissue – both independently confirm the same twelve-track listing for "Volume 1," and both describe it as covering only the 1949 and 1951 sessions, with no 1953-session material present. Two independent sources describing the product itself agreeing with each other, against a general chronology summary, is reasonably strong evidence that "Volume 1" as actually sold only contains the first two sessions – but this guide still can't fully reconcile it with Wikipedia's broader claim, so both accounts are presented here rather than one being silently dropped. Later CD and digital reissues muddied things further still: a 1989 CD remaster reordered tracks chronologically and shifted five tracks from the 1951 session onto Volume 2 instead, and a 2001 Rudy Van Gelder remaster reorganized the pair again, restoring a split closer to the original two 10" releases. If you're chasing a specific track's specific take, confirm the exact edition rather than assuming any release titled "Volume 1" contains an identical program. This confusion runs deep enough that even MusicBrainz's own release-group cataloguing reflects it: Wikidata cites two different MusicBrainz release-group IDs for this title recorded at different retrieval dates, which likely reflects the same 10"/12" discography confusion rather than a simple database update.

Recording history and tape provenance

"Un Poco Loco," recorded in three takes across the 1951 session (two alternates plus the master, all typically included together on reissues), is one of the most analyzed and influential performances in the bebop piano repertoire, built on a hypnotic Max Roach cowbell pattern under Powell's increasingly unmoored right-hand lines.

Blue Note's own official history of these sessions preserves a vivid account of just how close the August 1949 date came to not happening at all. According to biographer David Pullman's telling (as related by Blue Note directly), Powell was so late to the studio that Curley Russell and Max Roach – already well accustomed to his disappearances by then – waited ninety minutes before nearly giving up. Then, per Alfred Lion's own account, a studio door burst open and Powell rushed in, sat straight down at the piano and announced "Okay, okay, we're ready, let's go" with no warning or preparation for anyone else in the room. Roach got behind the drums, Russell picked up his bass, and the session that produced "Un Poco Loco" and several of Powell's other most celebrated recordings began within moments, unrehearsed.

A 1966 reissue under catalog BST 81503 is documented – via the authoritative Blue Note discography at jazzdisco.org, and independently corroborated by two specialist vintage-jazz retailers (Blue Sounds and Fresh Sound Records) – as "pseudo stereo" or "electronically rechanneled," meaning it's a reprocessed fake stereo version of the original mono recording, not a genuine stereo mix (none exists for these mono-era sessions). Electronically reprocessed fake stereo is generally considered a sonic downgrade rather than an improvement by collectors, since it doesn't add real channel-separated information and can introduce phasing artifacts. If you come across a copy labeled BST 81503 rather than BLP 1503, know that you're looking at this electronically rechanneled edition rather than the true mono original – confirm which catalog number and label style you're getting before buying.

Separately, a Japanese specialist reissue by Disc Union (catalog DBLP-033, a limited edition) is praised by at least one owner as an excellent, well-executed pressing of this title – worth knowing about as another legitimate option beyond the Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series, though a specific mastering credit for it could not be independently confirmed. A separate Music Matters edition of this title also exists, confirmed via a legitimate sealed-copy sale listing, though its specific mastering credit or catalog number could not be confirmed with the same confidence as other titles in this project.

Sound quality by pressing

The Blue Note BLP 1503 (original mono) is the true original 12" pressing. A genuine first pressing shows deep grooves on both label sides, a "767 Lexington Ave. N.Y.C." address on the label, an etched RVG (Rudy Van Gelder) mark alongside the Plastylite "ear" symbol in the dead wax, a matching "767 Lexington Ave., New York 21" address on the back cover, and a non-laminated, framed cover design with a blank spine – collectors have documented some copy-to-copy label variation even within genuine originals, so treat the checklist as a strong general guide rather than an absolute rule. Owner reviews describe an unusually wide mono soundstage and consistently praise the pressing as stunning for a recording of this vintage.

At least one detailed owner account offers a genuinely useful direct comparison: someone who owns both an early 1957 repress and the new Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series edition describes a real, specific improvement – the 1957 repress had a "thin, tinny sound," while Kevin Gray's remastering makes Powell's piano sound "clear and relatively lively" by comparison. The same reviewer is careful to note that no remastering can fully transcend the era's inherent recording limitations, but credits Gray's work at Cohearent Audio with putting "flesh and blood" into these old recordings regardless.

The Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, pressed at Optimal in Germany on 180-gram vinyl. A currently in-print, accessible way to own this title with a confirmed, matrix-independent mastering credit – see the direct comparison against a vintage 1957 repress noted above.

BST 81503 (1966 "pseudo stereo") is an electronically rechanneled fake-stereo edition – see above before assuming "stereo" means an upgrade over a genuine mono pressing.

Buyer's guide by budget

$$$: The Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series – confirmed all-analog Kevin Gray mastering at standard pricing.

$$$$: A clean original Blue Note BLP 1503 mono pressing, condition-dependent – confirm mono labeling and catalog number to avoid the 1966 pseudo-stereo edition.

$$$$: A Music Matters edition, if you can confirm its specific pressing details to your satisfaction.

Pressing tier summary

Tier ⇅ Pressing Cat# Year ⇅ Format Source / Mastering Notes Market ⇅
A Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series BLP 1503 – Mono, 33⅓, 180g Kevin Gray; pressed at Optimal (Germany) Currently in print; confirmed tracklist covers the 1949 and 1951 sessions only –
A Blue Note BLP 1503 (original) BLP 1503 1955/56 Mono, 33⅓ Blue Note lacquer First 12" pressing; owner reviews praise an unusually wide mono soundstage –
B BST 81503 ("pseudo stereo") BST 81503 1966 Electronically rechanneled stereo, 33⅓ Not genuine stereo – see above Avoid if you specifically want a true mono listening experience –

References

Related guides: Blue Train · Somethin' Else · Cool Struttin'

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