Richie Powell was an emerging composer-pianist whose career was tragically cut short just as his compositional voice was developing within the hard bop movement. Born in New York City in 1931, Powell grew up as the youngest brother of bebop pioneer Bud Powell. During his brief career from 1949 to 1956, Powell created several original compositions including "Gertrude's Bounce," named after artist Gertrude Abercrombie. His most innovative work, "Powell's Prances," featured a special improvisational structure allowing musicians to solo over a musical scale rather than traditional chord changes, prefiguring later modal jazz developments. As pianist and arranger for the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet, Powell contributed arrangements that helped define the band's sound. He died in a car accident on June 26, 1956, at age 24, the same crash that killed Clifford Brown.
