Mel Powell was born on February 12, 1923 in New York City, New York, USA as Melvin Epstein. He was a composer and actor, known for A Song Is Born (1948), The Lonely Night (1954) and American Frontier (1953). He was married to Martha Scott. He died on April 24, 1998 in Van Nuys, California, USA.
Stride pianist and arranger. Began as a teenager at Nick's in New York before joining the band of Mugsy Spanier. With Benny Goodman from 1941, for who he wrote several seminal tracks, including "The Earl", "Clarinet a la King" and "Mission to Moscow". Member of Glenn Miller's Army Band during World War II.
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Turned to classical music in the 1980's, taking over from Paul Hindemith as Professor of Composition at Yale. Subsequently headed the California Institute of the Arts.
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Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997.
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Jazz pianist and composer. Won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize in music for his composition, "Duplicates: A Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra".
$8 Million
