About
Roy Powell studied piano and avant-garde composition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England.
He first came to prominence in 1994 with his debut recording A Big Sky which was hailed as “a real bench mark in British contemporary electric jazz” by Jazz on CD.
He then emigrated to Oslo, Norway where he collaborated on an album of free improvised music Holus with Terje Gewelt and Jarle Vespestad which was described as “ an outstanding success” by Jazz Journal International.
His next release as a leader- North by Northwest featuring Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen was also a critical success as well as being selected as Best Jazz CD of 2001 by Amazon.co.uk.
Solace which was released in 2003 received lavish praise including 4 stars in Downbeat.
His Sax quartet piece Bow Out has been performed by Oakland, Richmond, Cincinnati and Florida ballet companies.
His recordings have appeared in the Gramophone Jazz Good CD guide, Gramophone Classical Good CD guide, the Lord Discography, The new Grove Dictionary of Jazz as well as jazz magazines in Europe and the US and radio shows in the UK, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Holland, Scandinavia and the US.
He is currently active in an organ trio InterStatic with Jarle Vespestad and Jacob Young and an international quartet Naked Truth with Graham Haynes, Pat Mastelotto and Lorenzo Feliciati.
His Clavinet Prog project Mumpbeak has recorded two albums in 2014 and 2017 involving Bill Laswell, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Chad Wackerman, Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, Torstein Lofthus and Lorenzo Feliciati.
As of 2024 Powell is involved with several projects:
Playing keyboards in This Celestial Engine with Dave Sturt and Ted Parsons (new album out on Discus Music)
Playing Organ in the Frode Kjekstad Trio with Raciel Torres
( new album recorded)
Playing piano in The Italian Songbook with Lorenzo Feliciati and Lucrezio De Seta (new album recorded)
There are also plans for a new album with InterStatic with Jacob Young and Jarle Vespestad
A superior modern mainstream jazz pianist from England, Roy Powell is based in Norway. While he has had notable experiences playing avant-garde music (including with Anthony Braxton) and electronic funky jazz, on Rendezvous he performs straight-ahead, medium-tempo pieces and introspective ballads in a piano trio. Powell, who contributed eight originals to this live outing from Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in England, displays a great deal of life, spirit, and joy in his playing. One can hear bits of Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and perhaps Herbie Hancock in spots, but Powell has his own voice
“Echoing drifts of acoustic piano, reversed electronics, acid-etched organ and psych-jam blow-outs. So light on its feet as to almost feel weightless in places, it manages to be entrancing while still brandishing plenty of gutsy impact. Occasionally invoking the ruminative disposition of early 70s Soft Machine, the trio’s bright, anthemic passages bring the album a warm accessibility.”
Sid Smith, PROG
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