After early work around Philadelphia and New York City, Richie Powell played in the bands of Paul Williams (1951–52) and Johnny Hodges (1952–54).

He switched in the spring of 1954 to being pianist and arranger for the quintet co-led by trumpeter Clifford Brown and drummer Max Roach.

This band toured extensively across the U.S. for two years, and released both studio and concert recordings, including the Grammy Hall of Fame inductee Clifford Brown & Max Roach.

[6] Bud did not assist his brother at all in his musical endeavors; instead, according to a biographer of saxophonist Jackie McLean, "it was an excellent but now forgotten pianist named Bob Bunyan who taught Richie Powell chords on the piano.

[12][13] Powell was with Hodges' band in Los Angeles in the spring of 1954 when Roach needed a new pianist for the quintet that he co-led with trumpeter Clifford Brown.

[14] In the same month, Powell was involved as pianist for some tracks at a session arranged for singer Dinah Washington that featured a studio audience.

[15] In September the quintet played for a fortnight at the Black Hawk in San Francisco, then began a tour of the eastern United States the following month.

[23] Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street contained playing at even faster tempos than on their earlier album releases.

[27] The third of his originals, "Powell's Prances", was "a modal composition, with Brown and Rollins improvising on the scale rather than on the usual chord changes", a form popularized three years later by Miles Davis.

[36] On the Pennsylvania Turnpike outside Bedford, in heavy rain, Nancy lost control of the vehicle, which crashed off the road and rolled down an embankment.

"[39] Another exception to Powell being in a supporting role is his extended introductory section to a 1954 Hodges recording of "Autumn in New York".

[3] On this track, in the words of critic Marc Myers six decades later, Powell's playing was "regal, bouncy and appropriately lush, with shades of Erroll Garner, Al Haig and Richie's brother, Bud.

"[3] Pianist McCoy Tyner, who grew up close to the Powell brothers in Philadelphia,[41] was influenced by their relatively heavy keyboard touch and their liking of percussive piano sounds.