(Tenor saxophone, 1908–41) Inspired by Coleman Hawkins’ big sound, Leon ‘Chu’ Berry honed a more rapid, streamlined tenor attack. He recorded with Benny Carter in 1933 and joined Fletcher Henderson three years later. In 1937 he topped Down Beat’s first national poll of leading musicians and joined Cab Calloway’s orchestra, where he remained until his death. Berry ...
One of the founding fathers of rock’n’roll, Charles Edward (Chuck) Berry was born in 1926 in St Louis, Missouri, to a middle-class family. His interest in the blues began in high school, where he gave his first public performance. In 1944, he was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to three years in an Intermediate Reformatory ...
(Hin’-rikh Shüts) 1585–1672 German composer Schütz received his early training at the Collegium Mauritianum at Hessen-Kassel. From there he went to Marburg University to study law. In 1609, Landgrave Moritz of Hessen-Kassel, of whom Schütz was a protegé, sent the young composer to Venice, where he studied with Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1553–1612). He returned to Kassel in about 1613 ...
(Frants Shoo’-brt) 1797–1828 Austrian composer Described by Liszt as ‘the most poetic of all composers’, Franz Schubert (1797–1828) was both the heir to the great Viennese classical tradition of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, and the first true Romantic composer. In his short life, spent almost entirely in Vienna, he was known almost exclusively as a composer of songs ...
(Kla’-ra Shoo’-man) 1819–96 German pianist Clara made her debut at the age of 11 and soon became famous as a virtuoso soloist. She also composed music – usually for herself to perform. Early works include a piano concerto (1833–35) and several piano pieces. After a fierce battle with her father, she married Robert Schumann in 1840 and continued to perform, ...
(Ro’-bârt Shoo’-man) 1810–56 German composer Robert Schumann, in his life and music, embodied many of the central themes of the German Romantic movement: steeped in German literary Romanticism, he composed Lieder combining the melodic simplicity of German folk tradition with expressive harmonic setting, wrote poetically titled miniatures, and composed music rich in literary inspiration and allusion. His ...
(Piano, b. 1941) Chucho remained in Cuba after his father, pianist Bebo Valdés, defected in the late 1950s. In his mid-20s Chucho established Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna, which became the much-recorded, internationally touring jazz showband Irakere; he turned it over to his son in 1998. A large man with huge hands, Valdés is capable ...
1797–1828, Austrian Celebrated for his instrumental works and over 600 songs, Franz Schubert knew that musical fame and fortune in Vienna lay above all in the opera house. In his teens he completed several one-act comedies and the ‘magic opera’, Des Teufels Lustschloss (‘The Devil’s Pleasure Palace’, 1814). Thanks to his friend, the baritone Johann Michael Vogl, ...
‘The Free-shooter’ The Faustian theme, with its connotations of the black arts, was not new to opera when Weber wrote Der Freischütz. Since 1796 there had already been eight operas based on the sixteenth-century legend as composers responded to one of the most seductive themes of the early Romantic era: a pact with the devil for personal gain or ...
1888–1952, German Soprano Schumann made her debut in the Neues Stadt-Theater in Hamburg in 1909 and stayed there until 1919. Richard Strauss persuaded her to join the Vienna Staatsoper where she remained until 1938. She made her Covent Garden debut in 1924 as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier. From 1938 she took up residence in New York where she had already ...
1861–1936, Austro-American Schumann-Heink’s voice was renowned for its richness and wide range. Studies with Marietta von Leclair led to her concert debut in 1876 and her operatic debut in Dresden two years later, in Il trovatore. For many years she sang at Hamburg and Bayreuth, while also appearing at London’s Covent Garden in Wagnerian roles. Schumann-Heink made her ...
1910–92 American composer Schuman was a pupil of Roy Harris, whose work much influenced him, especially in his 10 strongly dramatic, brilliantly scored symphonies. He also wrote two short operas – including perhaps the only opera ever written about baseball, Casey at the Bat (1976) – and was an influential teacher and musical administrator. Recommended Recording: Symphony ...
Charles Edward Anderson Berry, known to all as Chuck, was born in St Louis, Missouri, on 18 October 1926, at the family’s home in Goode Avenue. The local gospel choir used it for their rehearsals and there was a well-employed piano in situ. Berry began learning the guitar in his mid-teens. At 17 he was involved ...
(Singer-songwriter, 1928–58) Known as ‘The Sheik Of The Stroll’, Atlanta-born Harold Willis was a rising star, with a string of US R&B hits to his credit, the biggest 1957’s R&B No. 1, ‘C.C. Rider’, which also made the US pop Top 20. Signed to Okeh Records between 1952 and 1954, his career took off in ...
(Vocals, b. 1941) Ernest Evans started out as a Philadelphia novelty act who had his first hit in 1959 as a musical impressionist. In 1960, he recorded a more innocent version of a steamy Hank Ballard B-side, ‘The Twist’, which made it to the US No. 1, bubbling under for over a year afterwards before, uniquely ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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