(Alto saxophone, arranger, trumpet, vocals, 1907–2003) One of the great arrangers and soloists in jazz history, Bennett Lester Carter wrote some of the first big-band music to fully realize the flowing, legato ensemble of the coming swing movement. His saxophone ensembles were smooth projections of his solo style. ‘Lonesome Nights’ and ‘Symphony In Riffs’ were ...
As a member of the first family of country music, Maybelle Carter (1909–78) distinguished herself far beyond her role as accompanist to her brother-in-law A.P. Carter and his wife Sara (Maybelle’s cousin) in the Carter Family, the first recording stars of country music. Maybelle was born Maybelle Addington in Nickelsville, Virginia. In 1926 she married Ezra J. ...
Benny Goodman was the first of the great bandleader virtuosos of the 1930s to achieve global success. Through a combination of personal connections, nerve, enormous talent and sheer luck, he parlayed a sequence of opportunities in 1934–35 into a payoff that changed American music. After forming his first band in New York in 1934, he won a ...
(Bass, piccolo bass, b. 1937) A consummately professional bassist, Ron Carter possesses a distinctive tone and phenomenal dexterity that place him at the upper level of jazz rhythmists. In the early 1960s Carter joined drummer Chico Hamilton’s popular quintet, then worked with Eric Dolphy, Don Ellis, Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley and Art Farmer. From ...
(Various saxophones, b. 1969) A musical prodigy from Detroit’s Creative Arts Collective, saxophonist James Carter toured Europe at the age of 16, worked with Wynton Marsalis and starred in Julius Hemphill’s saxophone opera Long Tongues. Since 1990, his New York ensemble has recorded a variety of ‘quiet storm’ romantic jazz, Django Reinhardt-style gypsy jazz, hard-core ...
(Violin, b. 1966) Violinist Regina Carter has stabilized her instrument’s precarious role in jazz after advanced work in classical, jazz-pop and experimental formats. From childhood Suzuki lessons (a method of teaching music that stresses listening over reading skills), she joined the Detroit-based band Straight Ahead, then the String Trio of New York. She was a featured soloist in ...
The Carters (A. P. 1891–1960, Sara 1899–1979 and Maybelle 1909–78) are the most extensive clan in country music, encompassing three generations of performers and connections by marriage to other artists. This is fitting, for their musical influence is pervasive, too. Near the dawn of country music as a commercial entity, they were its first successful family ...
(Vocals, 1904–96) Carter, the son of a Baptist minister, was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, and in his youth worked as a rodeo performer in Canada’s western provinces, as well as singing on radio shows. Recording for RCA Records for 50 years, Carter was central to the popularity of cowboy music in the 1930s ...
(Vocals, b. 1955) Born Rebecca Carlene Smith, the daughter of June Carter and Carl Smith, she worked on The Johnny Cash Show and with The Carter Family after her mother married Cash. During the first half of the 1990s, she returned to country music, after a period in the rock world and early albums with Dave ...
1908–2012 American composer An early relationship with Charles Ives (1874–1954) and a period of study with Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979) led to a synthesis of European modernism and American ultra-modernism, which can be heard in the String Quartet No. 1 (1950–51). By the second quartet (1959), Carter was following an entirely different style: the four string players are instructed to sit ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1915–56) The Carter Family was the first vocal group to become country music stars. Consisting of A.P. Carter, his wife Sara and their sister-in-law Maybelle, The Carter Family’s simple harmonies and unique guitar-based arrangements supplanted the bluegrass-oriented ‘hillbilly’ music of rural America. The family’s sound gave new life to British and Appalachian traditionals and made ...
(Vocals, composer, b. 1930) Lincoln caps her long, diversified singing and acting career as an iconic songwriter and performer. Her first record, in the 1950s, was with Benny Carter’s orchestra; in the 1960s she recorded politicized material with then-husband Max Roach. In the mid-1980s she re-emerged, paying tribute to Billie Holiday and embodying an African-American ...
Joseph Vernon Turner was born on 18 May 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri. He dropped out of school after sixth grade and worked with blind singers on the streets. The blues was in the air in Kansas City and when Turner joined in with the street singers he would make up blues lyrics. Turner was functionally illiterate and never learned ...
(Drums, 1910–51) Catlett was one of the most well-respected and versatile jazz drummers of the 1930s and 1940s. He played in a variety of ensembles under such luminaries as Benny Carter, Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington, before going on to join Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars. Catlett’s remarkable adaptability enabled him to play in a wide range ...
(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 ...
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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.