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BUD POWELL: 1924-1966Born in Harlem, Powell made his first recordings at age 19. In 1945, he was beaten up and admitted to Bellevue psychiatric facility in New York. On the admission form he wrote under occupation: "Pianist and composer of over 1,000 songs." The psychiatrist diagnosed this as "delusions of grandeur" and put him in a straitjacket. Subsequently, he spent years in and out of institutions where he was drugged and electroshocked. His health deteriorated rapidly. He died from a combination of liver failure, tuberculosis (TB) and malnutrition. Five thousand people lined the streets of Harlem to honor him at his funeral. |
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