| The Return of Bud Powell | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Bud Powell |
| Cover: | The Return of Bud Powell.jpg |
| Released: | 1964 |
| Recorded: | September 18, 1964 |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Label: | Roulette |
| Prev Title: | The Invisible Cage |
| Prev Year: | 1964 |
| Next Title: | A Portrait of Thelonious |
| Next Year: | 1965 |
The Return of Bud Powell is a studio album by jazz pianist Bud Powell recorded in 1964 and released the same year by Roulette Records. Also on the album were bassist John Ore and drummer J. C. Moses.[1]
Author and pianist Francis Paudras highlighted disagreements between Powell and Moses prior to the session, with the pianist only agreeing to play with Moses on the condition that the volume of the drums be reduced during mixing.[2]
A writer for Billboard stated that, on the album, Powell is "just as strong, polished and vibrantly exciting as before," and noted that Ore and Moses "romp along with him."[3]
Trevor Tolley of Coda wrote: "while the fingering is clean and the tone well sustained, the performances are rhythmically limp, and one has the sense at times that the bass and drums are doing their best to fit in, so as to hide the rhythmic uncertainty."[4]
Harvey Pekar, writing for DownBeat, gave a mixed evaluation of the album, noting on two of the tracks that during pauses between phrases, "it's almost as if he's trying to catch his breath before playing the next lick. His sense of time is also none too sharp." However, he praised "If I Loved You" and "Someone to Watch Over Me," noting, "he seems to be on another planet, demonstrating a harmonic sense as advanced in its way as that of any 'new thing' musician, and conveying a feeling of great poignancy."[5]