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A veteran tenor saxophonist and flutist,
Seldon Powell adjusted and honed his style over the years, being flexible enough to play anything from swing to hard bop and in between. He wasn't the greatest soloist, most ambitious composer, or most spectacular arranger; he was simply a good, consistent player who survived many changes and trends to remain active from the late '40s until the '90s.
Powell was classically trained in New York, then worked briefly with
Tab Smith in 1949 before joining
Lucky Millinder and recording with him in 1950.
Powell was in the military in 1950 and 1951, then became a studio musician in New York. He worked and recorded with
Louis Bellson,
Neal Hefti,
Friedrich Gulda,
Johnny Richards, and
Billy Ver Planck in the mid- and late '50s.
Powell also played with
Sy Oliver and
Erskine Hawkins, and studied at Juilliard. He traveled to Europe with
Benny Goodman's band in 1958, and worked briefly with
Woody Herman.
Powell was a staff player for ABC television in the '60s, and also played and recorded with
Buddy Rich,
Bellson,
Clark Terry, and
Ahmed Abdul-Malik. He did a number of soul-jazz and pop dates in the late '60s and early '70s, among them a session with
Groove Holmes and big-band dates backing
Gato Barbieri and
Dizzy Gillespie.
Powell was principal soloist in
Gerry Mulligan's 16-piece band at the JVC Jazz Festival in New York in 1987. He recorded as a leader for Roost and Epic. ~ Ron Wynn