Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966)[1] was an American jazz pianist and composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell was a leading figure in the development of modern jazz. His virtuosity led many to call him the Charlie Parker of the piano.[2] Powell was also a composer, and many jazz critics credit his works and his playing as having "greatly extended the range of jazz harmony".[3]
Miles Davis in his autobiography said of Powell: "[He] was one of the few musicians I knew who could play, write, and read all kinds of music."[31] "Bud was a genius piano player – the best there was of all the bebop piano players."[32]

In 1986 Francis Paudras wrote a book about his friendship with Powell, translated into English in 1997 as Dance of the Infidels: A Portrait of Bud Powell.[33] The book was the basis for Round Midnight, a film inspired by the lives of Powell and Lester Young, in which Dexter Gordon played the lead role of an expatriate jazzman in Paris.[34]
Powell influenced countless younger musicians, especially pianists. These included Horace Silver,[35] Wynton Kelly,[36] Andre Previn,[37] McCoy Tyner,[38] Cedar Walton,[39] and Chick Corea.[40] Corea debuted a song called "Bud Powell" on his live album with Gary Burton, In Concert, Zürich, October 28, 1979, and in 1997 dedicated an entire album, Remembering Bud Powell to him.
Bill Evans, who described Powell as his single greatest influence,[41] paid the pianist a tribute in 1979: "If I had to choose one single musician for his artistic integrity, for the incomparable originality of his creation and the grandeur of his work, it would be Bud Powell. He was in a class by himself".[42]

Herbie Hancock said of Powell, in a Down Beat magazine interview in 1966: "He was the foundation out of which stemmed the whole edifice of modern jazz piano".[43]