(Tenor saxophone, clarinet, 1906–91) Freeman was one of the Austin High School Gang, a group of white, jazz-seeking teenagers who were inspired by New Orleans Rhythm Kings records and obsessed with the hot jazz scene on Chicago’s South Side. He recorded in 1927 with the McKenzie-Condon Chicagoans, then moved to New York to work with Red ...
Buddy Holly helped define and popularize rock’n’roll in its earliest days, when its future was in doubt and its existence was under attack. Strumming a Fender Stratocaster, he brought an extra dose of country to a sound that was still closely related to pure blues and rhythm and blues. He blazed a trail for white artists who, unlike ...
One of the young gunslingers who invigorated the blues in the 1960s, Buddy Guy (b. 1936) wowed audiences with high-octane guitar histrionics and energy that were matched by a tortured vocal manner. Guy is a master of dynamics, allowing a song to drift towards oblivion before suddenly bringing it back to a crescendo of intensity. Notable fans have included ...
(Clarinet, b. 1923) Buddy DeFranco (Boniface Ferdinand Leonardo) became the leading clarinet player of the post-swing era. His liquid sonority and flowing improvisations drew on elements from both swing and bebop, but without settling fully in either camp. He served a big-band apprenticeship with Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet and Tommy Dorsey in the mid-1940s, but is best ...
(Drums, 1917–87) Bernard ‘Buddy’ Rich was a powerhouse drummer with a phenomenal technique, but he was also capable of great delicacy when required. He grew up in the family vaudeville act before joining Joe Marsala’s band in 1937. It was the beginning of a series of associations with major swing era bandleaders such as Harry James, Artie Shaw ...
(Piano, 1924–66) Bud Powell was the pre-eminent bebop pianist. His spare chords and asymmetric accents in the left hand combined with fluid linear inventions in the right hand to establish the foundation of the standard approach to bop piano playing. The mental instability and introverted character that dogged his life are often ascribed to a beating by the police in ...
‘When I first heard of the electric guitar, I thought somebody was bullshittin’ me,’ says George ‘Buddy’ Guy. ‘We lived so far in the country I didn’t even know what an acoustic guitar was until my mother started getting mail-order catalogs’. In 2005, Guy, who was born in Lettsworth, Louisiana on 30 July 1936, stands ...
(Vocals, multi-instrumentalist, 1906–2001) Born near Ripley, West Virginia, Oby Edgar Starcher performed on radio stations in Baltimore and elsewhere. From the 1940s until the late 1960s, he recorded for various labels and wrote songs such as ‘You’ve Still Got A Place In My Heart’ and ‘I’ll Still Write Your Name’, many of which were popularized by ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1936–59) Born Charles Holley in Lubbock, Texas, Buddy was one of the biggest names of the rock’n’roll era. Along with his group, The Crickets, he recorded for producer Norman Petty and created a series of instantly recognizable worldwide hits. He came from a strictly hillbilly background but incorporated both R&B and blues into ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1933–99) Knox came from the tiny west Texas town of Happy. His group, The Rhythm Orchids included future country-music executive Jimmy Bowen on upright bass. Their biggest hit, ‘Party Doll’ (1957), was recorded at Norman Petty’s studio in Clovis, New Mexico. Buddy’s style was light and melodic, and less aggressive than his contemporaries. ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1952) Miller is short and stocky, just like Buck Owens, and applies a similar thick hillbilly twang to similar down-to-earth, hard-country songs. Julie Miller (vocals, b. 1956) is as tall and willowy as Joni Mitchell, and writes the same sort of poetic, folk-rock songs for the same sort of reedy ...
First performed at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden on 1 December 1951, this adaptation of Herman Melville’s short story saw E. M. Forster writing large portions of prose while Eric Crozier focused on the dramatic execution. Accordingly, Billy Budd was one of the most meticulously researched and well-written librettos of any Benjamin Britten opera. Typically for ...
Buddy Holly was born Charles Hardin Holley in Lubbock, Texas, on 7 September 1936. Buddy got a guitar in his mid-teens and started practising with friend, Bob Montgomery. They liked country and western but also had predilection for the blues. An Elvis gig in Lubbock in early 1955 alerted them to new possibilities. Buddy and Bob, as ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1933–99) Texas-born Knox formed The Rhythm Orchids at West Texas State high school with Jimmy Bowen (bass, vocals). ‘Party Doll’ (by Knox) and ‘I’m Stickin’ With You’ (by Bowen), recorded by Norman Petty, which possibly influenced Buddy Holly to choose Petty as his producer, were released as the two sides of a 1957 million-selling ...
The most strikingly original and authoritative voice on cornet since Louis Armstrong, Leon ‘Bix’ Beiderbecke set the example for a generation of aspiring white jazz players during the 1920s. His meteoric rise to fame was followed by a dramatic fall from grace that led to his ultimate death from alcoholism at the age of just 28 in 1931. A Self-Taught Genius ...
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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.