Richie Powell

For other people of the same name, see Richard Powell (disambiguation).

Richie Powell (September 5, 1931 – June 26, 1956) was an American bebop jazz pianist.

Powell was born into a musical family in New York City, and was the younger brother of Bud Powell (also a pianist). Although sometimes considered less gifted than his bebop-icon brother, he was a respected musician and a member of the group co-led by Clifford Brown and Max Roach.

In 1956 Powell and Brown were being driven overnight by Powell's wife Nancy to an engagement in Chicago. Nancy lost control of the vehicle on the Pennsylvania Turnpike during a dark rainy night, and all three occupants were killed.

Drummer Max Roach, who co-led the band with Richie and Brownie (Clifford Brown), told Ben Sidran in the book Talking Jazz, "When Clifford and Richie were taken away from us in that awful accident, that unfortunate accident that happened, the group still traveled. We had been booked beyond that, so I honored some of those jobs, as much as I could. Of course, it was a traumatic and emotional experience for me. I mean, I was really in never-never land for quite a while."

Pianist McCoy Tyner, who grew up next door to Richie and brother Bud in Philadelphia, purportedly got some of his inspiration to develop his pentatonic chord voicings because he heard Richie voice left-hand chords in fourths.