Rudy Powell (October 28, 1907 - October 30, 1976) was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 reed player.

Powell learned piano and violin while young, and then switched to clarinet and saxophone. In the late 1920s he played with June Clark

June Clark

Professor Dame June Clark, DBE, RN, FRCN FAAN is a Professor Emeritus of Community Nursing, at Swansea University in Wales....

, Gene Rodgers

Gene Rodgers

Gene Rodgers was an American jazz pianist and arranger. He is best known for being the pianist on Coleman Hawkins' famous 1939 recording of "Body and Soul"....

's Revellers, and Cliff Jackson

Cliff Jackson

Clifton Luther "Cliff" Jackson was an American jazz stride pianist.After playing in Atlantic City, Jackson moved to New York City in 1923, where he played with Lionel Howard's Musical Aces in 1924 and recorded with Bob Fuller and Elmer Snowden...

's Krazy Kats (1928-1930). He never recorded as a leader, but worked extensively as a sideman throughout his career. Among his credits are (in roughly chronological order) Elmer Snowden

Elmer Snowden

Elmer Snowden was a banjo player of the jazz age. He also played guitar and, in the early stages of his career, all the reed instruments. He contributed greatly to jazz in its early days as both a player and a bandleader, and is responsible for launching the careers of many top musicians...

, Dave Nelson

Dave Nelson

David Earl Nelson is a former Major League Baseball player and one of the current broadcasters for the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team on Fox Sports Wisconsin...

, Sam Wooding

Sam Wooding

Sam Wooding was an expatriate American jazz pianist, arranger and bandleader living and performing in Europe and the United States.Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he led several big bands in the United States and abroad...

, Kaiser Marshall

Kaiser Marshall

Joseph "Kaiser" Marshall was an American jazz drummer.Marshall was raised in Boston, where he studied under George L. Stone. He played with Charlie Dixon before moving to New York City early in the 1920s...

, Rex Stewart

Rex Stewart

Rex Stewart was an American jazz cornetist best known for his work with the Duke Ellington orchestra....

 (1933), Fats Waller

Fats Waller

Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...

 (1935-37), Edgar Hayes

Edgar Hayes

Edgar Hayes was an American jazz pianist and bandleader.Hayes attended Wilberforce University, where he graduated with a degree in music in the early 1920s. In 1922 he toured with Fess Williams, and formed his own group, the Blue Grass Buddies, in Ohio in 1924...

, Claude Hopkins

Claude Hopkins

Claude Driskett Hopkins was an American jazz stride pianist and bandleader.-Biography:Claude Hopkins was born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1903. Historians differ in respect of the actual date of his birth. His parents were on the faculty of Howard University...

 (1938-39, 1944), Teddy Wilson

Teddy Wilson

Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson was an American jazz pianist whose sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.-Biography:Wilson was born in Austin, Texas in...

, Andy Kirk

Andy Kirk

Andrew Dewey Kirk was a jazz saxophonist and tubist best known as a bandleader of the "Twelve Clouds of Joy," popular during the swing era....

 (1940-41), Fletcher Henderson

Fletcher Henderson

James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast...

 (1941-42), Eddie South

Eddie South

Eddie South was an American jazz violinist.-Biography:South was a classical violin prodigy who switched to jazz because of limited opportunities for African-American musicians, and started his career playing in vaudeville and jazz orchestras with Freddie Keppard, Jimmy Wade, Charles Elgar, and...

, Don Redman

Don Redman

Donald Matthew Redman was an American jazz musician, arranger, bandleader and composer.Redman was announced as a member of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame on May 6, 2009....

 (1943), Chris Columbus

Chris Columbus (musician)

Joseph Morris Christopher "Chris" Columbus was an American jazz drummer...

, Cab Calloway

Cab Calloway

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....

 (1945-48), Lucky Millinder

Lucky Millinder

Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder was an American rhythm and blues and swing bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful...

 (1949-51), Jimmy Rushing

Jimmy Rushing

James Andrew Rushing , known as Jimmy Rushing, was an American blues shouter and swing jazz singer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.Rushing was known as "Mr...

, Buddy Tate, Benton Heath (1953-61), Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

 (1961-62), Buddy Johnson

Buddy Johnson

Not to be confused with Budd Johnson.Buddy Johnson was an American jazz and New York blues pianist and bandleader, active from the 1930s through the 1960s...

, Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

, and Saints & Sinners (1965-69). He continued playing into the 1970s off and on.

Powell appears in A Great Day in Harlem

A Great Day in Harlem

A Great Day in Harlem or Harlem 1958 is a 1958 black and white group portrait of 57 notable jazz musicians photographed on a street in Harlem, New York City. The photo has remained an important object in the study of the history of jazz....

.