The Glass Enclosure: The Life of Bud Powell

Bud Powell revolutionised jazz piano in the 1940s by developing a rapidity of thought and execution hitherto matched only be pioneer bebop trumpeters and saxophonists, He combined the harmonic innovations of Thelonious Monk with the quicksilver runs and vitality of Art Tatum. Yet hand in glove with his glittering achievements was a life of tragedy, dogged by mental and physical illness that took him out of the public eye for long periods of time.

In this book Alyn Shipton and Alan Groves unearth one of the most heart-rending stories in jazz.

They trace his career from its early days in New York with Cootie Williams to the heyday of bop with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.

They chart his slow decline and then rehabilitation in Paris, before his tragic return to America and his early death. This is the true-life background story to the movie “Round Midnight”.