Don’t expect to hear the usual refrains associated with contemporary jazz when listening to the brilliant masterpieces composed by Bud Powell.Of all the instruments common to jazz the piano has treated us with a vast amount of sparkling masterminds. Powell was born in Harlem in 1924 and was already a child prodigy on the ivory keys by the time he was seven. Neighborhood musicians brought the young neophyte with them so others could admire his performances. On Jazz Giants Powell is accompanied by Ray Brown and Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums.Interestingly, Roach joined Chick Corea, Joshua Redman and others for atribute to Bud Powell a few yearsago for a performance at Place Des Arts.Thirteen tracks flow from one to the next on this album.Quite a few of the selections have become standards such as Sweet Georgia Brown, April In Paris andBody And Soul just to mention a few.Along with Charlie “Bird” Parker, Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell helped create the sound we have become to know as bebop. After his death, Jazz critic Owen McNally wrote, “… Powell, in a triumph of spirit, mind and heart, somehow created one of the greatest legacies of piano music of the 20thcentury….” This CD is a part of that legacyand is without question a must for anyone’s Jazz collection.