Recognized as an exceptional talent among swing pianists, Mel Powell already displayed prodigious ability by his mid-teens. At eighteen he was performing at the keyboard and supplying major charts for Benny Goodman’s orchestra. Prior associations had placed him in bands with Bobby Hackett, George Brunis, and Zutty Singleton during 1939; he had also served as intermission pianist at Nick’s and joined the short-lived Muggsy Spanier big band. While employed by Goodman, Powell formed a lifelong friendship with the clarinetist, and among the arrangements he contributed were “The Earl,” “Mission to Moscow,” “Clarinade,” and “Jersey Bounce.”
After working with Raymond Scott’s CBS Orchestra in 1942, he became one of the featured soloists in the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. His pianistic approach recalled the elegance of Teddy Wilson. Powell recorded with Goodman between 1945 and 1947, led several sessions of his own—the first appearing in 1942—and maintained a busy studio career. Following study with Paul Hindemith at Yale in 1952, he turned his attention entirely to classical composition.
Although he made a handful of distinguished jazz recordings for Vanguard in 1953–1955 and sat in with Bobby Hackett in the mid-1960s, Powell otherwise remained absent from the jazz scene for decades. As a respected serial composer he continued to work steadily until returning to jazz for cruises documented by Chiaroscuro in 1986 and 1987. Even after a diagnosis of muscular dystrophy, he sustained both composing and performing activities, receiving a Pulitzer Prize in 1990. Eight years later, on April 24, Melvin Epstein died in the Los Angeles area.
