orig. Earl Powell
born Sept. 27, 1924, New York, N.Y., U.S.
died Aug. 1, 1966, New York City
U.S. jazz pianist and composer.
Powell played in Cootie Williams's big band (194244) before becoming part of the burgeoning activity of bebop in the late 1940s. His style became the predominant approach for post-swing era pianists: he did away with most accepted functions of the left hand, reducing it to playing brief, syncopated chords supporting long melody lines by the right hand. He moved to Paris in 1959 and returned to the U.S. in 1964. His career was interrupted several times due to nervous breakdowns thought to derive from head injuries sustained in a racially motivated attack in 1945.