Fifties

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(Clarinet, b. 1929) Acker Bilk was born in Somerset, England. He took up clarinet in the Army and formed his first band in 1950. His Paramount Jazz Band adopted trademark uniforms of striped waistcoats and bowler hats and was very successful in the UK’s trad boom of the late 1950s. Bilk enjoyed a major pop hit with his own ‘Stranger On The Shore’ in 1961 and remained a popular draw on ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
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(Vocals, 1940–2003) London-born Terence Nelhams sang in skiffle group The Worried Men, before changing his name at UK TV guru Jack Good’s suggestion. After early flops, arranger John Barry provided string backing for 1959’s UK No. 1 ‘What Do You Want’, while 1960’s follow-up ‘Poor Me’ also topped the chart, and Faith accumulated 22 more hits by 1966. In 1972, he discovered Leo Sayer, and in 1974, starred with David Essex ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Piano, b. 1930) Ahmad Jamal made his name with his very successful trio of the late 1950s and had a hit with his version of ‘Poinciana’ in 1958. His light touch and use of space has led some to hear too much of the cocktail lounge in his playing, but he is an inventive and influential musician and composer. He experimented with more avant-garde approaches after a break from performing in ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
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(Disc jockey, 1922–65) Freed, the DJ who gave rock’n’roll its name, fronted Moondog’s Rock’n’Roll Party at Cleveland’s WJW radio station, where he programmed mainly black R&B plus some early white rock’n’roll records. His vocal jive delighted his audience, and he also appeared in several early rock’n’roll exploitation movies, including Rock Around The Clock, Rock, Rock, Rock (both 1956) and others. He accepted a songwriting credit on Chuck Berry’s ‘Maybellene’ in exchange ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Composer, piano, guitar, 1927–94) Jobim was the best known of the Brazilian composers who made an impact on jazz. His international reputation blossomed due to his songs in the film Black Orpheus (1959) and with João Gilberto he sparked a bossa nova craze, boosted by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd’s Jazz Samba (1962). He led his own band on international tours, and his songs – including ‘Girl From Ipamena’, ‘Desifinado’ and ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
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(Drums, 1919–90) Art Blakey (also later known as Buhaina or simply Bu after he converted to Islam) led the quintessential hard bop group the Jazz Messengers across four decades from the late 1940s, and was a fervent advocate of the music he loved. He formed his first band in his native Pittsburgh, but moved to New York and played in Billy Eckstine’s seminal big band in 1944–47, before relaunching his career ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
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(Alto and tenor saxophones, 1925–82) Art Pepper was a soloist with Stan Kenton (1947–52) and took part in trumpeter Shorty Rogers’s first so-called West Coast jazz recordings in 1951. He made a series of classic records for the California-based Contemporary label (1957–60), but was imprisoned at various times for heroin-related offences, culminating in three years’ voluntary rehabilitation in Synanon from 1969. He played with the Don Ellis Orchestra in 1975 and ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
102 Words Read More

(Guitar, vocals, b. 1925) Riley B. King, from Indianola, Mississippi, is arguably the last surviving authentic blues artist. Orphaned, he took up guitar aged 15, turning professional after US military service. In 1947, he moved to Memphis and lived with cousin Bukka White. There, he worked on a local radio station, acquiring his B.B. (‘Blues Boy’) epithet, also working with Bobby Bland and Johnny Ace. First recording in 1949, his breakthrough ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Harmonica, vocals, 1926–84) Willie Mae Thornton was born in Montgomery, Alabama. She settled in Houston, Texas in 1948 and began recording for the Peacock label in 1951. She toured with Johnny Otis in 1952–53 and recorded her number-one R&B hit, ‘Hound Dog’, with his band. The record, famously covered by Elvis Presley, enabled her to branch out on her own. After leaving Peacock in 1957, she settled in the San Francisco ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
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(Harmonica, vocals, 1918–61) Walter Horton was born in Horn Lake, Mississippi. He taught himself harmonica at the age of five and was working the streets shortly thereafter. He moved to Chicago in 1940 but it wasn’t until later in the decade that he began to be more active professionally. Horton replaced Junior Wells in the Muddy Waters Band in 1953 and worked with Muddy for about a year. One of Chicago’s ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
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(Organ, piano, arranger, 1916–96) William Ballard Doggett was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band he led was taken over by Lucky Millinder in 1940 and Doggett stayed on as pianist and arranger. After working with the Ink Spots, he played with Louis Jordan’s band from 1947–51. He was active as a studio pianist, organist and arranger until 1953, when he formed the first organ/tenor sax combo. His biggest hit, ‘Honky Tonk’, ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
127 Words Read More

Bill Evans was one of the most lyrical and romantic of all jazz pianists. His distinctive lightness of touch and singing tone on the piano shone most brightly in his favoured trio settings with compatible bass players and drummers, including famous line-ups that featured Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian, and later Eddie Gomez and Marty Morrell. Evans was born in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1929 and studied classical piano (and also ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
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William John Clifton Haley was born on 6 July 1925 in Highland Park, Detroit, and raised near Chester, Pennsylvania. His parents were both musical, and he got his first proper guitar when he was 13. Even though he was blind in one eye and shy about his disability (he later tried to distract from it with his trademark kiss-curl), he started playing local shows. A Professional Yodeller In his late teens he joined ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Vocals, b. 1930) Robert Calvin Brooks was born in Rosemark, Tennessee. He began recording in 1951 and was associated with B.B. King, Little Junior Parker, Johnny Ace and others in Memphis. A suave, deep-voiced blues romantic, he signed with Duke Records in 1952 and was one of the most consistent hitmakers in the soul blues idiom from the late 1950s to the 1970s. He had R&B number ones with ‘Further On ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
106 Words Read More

(Singer-songwriter, 1936–73) Aged 20, New York-born Walden Robert Cassotto’s chart career started with the novelty million-seller, ‘Splish Splash’. Leading The Rinky Dinks, he next charted with ‘Early In The Morning’ (later a hit for Buddy Holly), and in 1957 ‘Queen Of The Hop’ also sold a million. His major breakthrough was 1959’s million-selling ‘Dream Lover’, followed by his Sinatra-esque US/UK No. 1 cover of ‘Mack The Knife’, the first of several ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
138 Words Read More
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