Mel Powell (born Melvin Epstein, February 12, 1923 in the Bronx, New York City – April 24, 1998 in Sherman Oaks, California) was a jazz pianist and composer of classical music.
Powell was born to Russian Jewish parents and began playing piano as a child, and performed jazz professionally in New York City as a teenager. In 1941-42 he played, composed, and arranged for Benny Goodman. A member of Glenn Miller's Army Air Corps Band in 1943-45, he pla...
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Mel Powell (born Melvin Epstein, February 12, 1923 in the Bronx, New York City – April 24, 1998 in Sherman Oaks, California) was a jazz pianist and composer of classical music.
Powell was born to Russian Jewish parents and began playing piano as a child, and performed jazz professionally in New York City as a teenager. In 1941-42 he played, composed, and arranged for Benny Goodman. A member of Glenn Miller's Army Air Corps Band in 1943-45, he played with Django Reinhardt in Paris at war's end. Powell briefly returned to Goodman's band, then worked in Hollywood after World War II and married actress Martha Scott. In 1948 he played himself in the movie "A Song Is Born" as the jazz pianist working with Benny Goodman. In this movie he worked along with many other famous jazz players including Louis Armstrong. After studying at Yale with Paul Hindemith in 1948-1952 he all but gave up jazz for classical composition. He was a member of the composition faculty at Yale from 1958 to 1969, a...
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