(Guitar, b. 1959) In the early 1980s, Chicago native Jordan developed a revolutionary approach to the guitar, in which he sounded notes by tapping on the fretboard with the fingers of both hands. This technique allowed Jordan to play completely independent lines on the guitar simultaneously. His dazzling polyphony soon captured the attention of Blue Note Records, ...
Jazz and fusion guitarist Stanley Jordan (b. 1959) caught listeners’ attention with his touch technique, an advanced form of two-handed tapping, for playing guitar. By quickly tapping (or ‘hammering’) his finger down behind the appropriate fret with varying force, Jordan produced a unique legato sound not usually associated with tapping. Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois. He ...
(Alto saxophone, vocals, bandleader, 1908–75) Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five were major stars in the 1940s, providing energized recordings and exciting live shows. The alto saxophonist began by playing in swing bands, including Chick Webb’s, but in 1938 he gambled on the success of his own personality, fronting a small group playing in ...
Bill Monroe invented the ‘high, lonesome’ sound of bluegrass vocals, but The Stanley Brothers perfected it. Ralph and Carter Stanley refined those vocals into close, three-part harmonies that were unprecedented at the time and which have had a lasting influence ever since. If Bill Monroe And The Blue Grass Boys set the standard for bluegrass picking, The ...
(Bandleader, saxophonist, 1908–75) During the big-band era saxophonist Jordan was burning up the R&B charts with his small group, The Tympany Five. Jordan’s music combined jazz and blues with salty, jive-talking humour. People called the sound ‘jump blues’ or ‘jumpin’ jive’, and from 1942 to 1951, Jordan scored 57 R&B chart hits. Jordan’s best-loved songs include ...
A founding member of the band Pentangle, Bert Jansch (b. 1943) was born in Glasgow. He was heavily influenced by the guitarist Davey Graham and folk singers such as Anne Briggs. He has recorded 25 albums and toured extensively, influencing artists like Jimmy Page, Ian Anderson, Nick Drake and Neil Young. Jansch earned a Lifetime Achievement Award ...
(Guitar, b. 1966) A French gypsy, Lagrene was hailed as Django Reinhardt’s heir upon the release of his first album at the age of 13. He has performed gypsy jazz in the company of swing veterans Benny Carter, Benny Goodman and Stéphane Grappelli, but has also developed a personal, fusion-oriented style and mixes both approaches in ...
(Soprano and alto saxophones, b. 1956) Kenny Gorelick came up as a sideman in Jeff Lorber’s fusion band of the 1970s, before releasing his first R&B-flavoured recordings as a leader in the early 1980s. He hit pay dirt in 1986 with his phenomenally successful Duotones, which sold millions on the strength of his huge radioplay hit ‘Songbird’. His ...
As the end of the twentieth century approached, the United States – its culture included – entered a rare period of recapitulation, retrieval and, ultimately, renewal. The election as President of ageing Ronald Reagan, ex-movie star and California governor, introduced unexpected neo-conservatism, an ideology that looked back to a rosy, though mythical, ...
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) is said to have written the first film score with L’assassinat du duc de Guise (‘The Assassination of the Duke of Guise’, c. 1908). Many composers in the US and Europe followed suit, although few wished to make a career in films. A famous exception was Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957), whose scores include the Academy Award-winning The ...
The most influential country act of 2001 was a band that didn’t even exist. The Soggy Bottom Boys were the prime attraction on O Brother, Where Art Thou ? the soundtrack album that topped the country and pop charts and sold more than four million copies. The group revived the late 1930s and early 1940s sound when old-time string-band music ...
Before the Second World War, it was possible to live in certain areas of the USA in almost complete isolation. In the time of The Carter Family, many rural residents never travelled more than 80 km (50 miles) from their birthplace. But that began to change. The First World War, the Great Depression and the Second World War ...
Few would deny that the blues has played a more important role in the history of popular culture than any other musical genre. As well as being a complete art form in itself, it is a direct ancestor to the different types of current popular music we know and love today. Without the blues there would have been no Beatles ...
Al Di Meola (b. 1954) rose to the top tier of contemporary jazz guitarists through his work with Chick Corea’s Return To Forever in the Seventies. In addition to a prolific solo career, he has collaborated on projects with bassist Stanley Clarke, keyboardist Jan Hammer, violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and guitarists John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía. Al Laurence ...
When the great Mississippi musician Riley King left the cotton fields to seek his fortune in Memphis in 1946, he had $2.50 in his pocket and a battered guitar in his hand. Today, his name is synonymous with blues music itself, yet his ascendance to the zenith of the blues world never altered his friendly, downhome ...
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
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Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.