(Piano, vocals, 1910–92) William Thomas Dupree was born in New Orleans. He was raised in the Colored Waifs Home for Boys from infancy. He learned piano at an early age and in the 1920s worked barrelhouses as a soloist, as well as playing with traditional jazz bands. From the early 1930s, he worked as a prizefighter and ...
Modern blues guitarist Jack White (b. 1975) was born John Gillis in Detroit, Michigan. He taught himself to play drums, starting at the age of five. On leaving school, he played in various Detroit bands. In 1996, he married Meg White and, reversing normal practice, took her surname. The White Stripes were born when Meg ...
(Zhak Shamp-yôn’ Syör da Shan-bun-yâr) c. 1601–72 French composer Chambonnières is generally considered the founder of the French harpsichord school. He developed a style in harpsichord writing adapted from the lute idiom of style brisé, characterized by broken, arpeggiated chordal textures. In 1641, he began a twice-weekly series of concerts, later inheriting his father’s position as gentilhomme ordinaire of ...
(Piano, bandleader, 1892–1965) Prominent British bandleader and booking agent Hylton began recreating the ‘symphonic jazz’ of Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra in 1920. His band’s popularity grew in England and France through the 1920s and early 1930s. In 1933 Hylton booked the Duke Ellington Orchestra to tour Europe for the first time. He toured the US with American musicians in 1935 ...
(Vocals, banjo, c. 1890–1938) New Orleans-born Charlie Jackson brought a jazzman’s sophistication to an instrument still too often overlooked by blues historians. He alternated single-string solos with percussive chording and dexterous fingerpicking, allowing him to bridge styles and genres with rare facility. He released more than 60 sides of his own, and he also recorded with Freddie ...
(Trombone, vocals, 1905–64) Arguably the greatest trombonist in jazz history, Jack Teagarden might have been the dominant player of the 1930s. He made his reputation in the late 1920s with Ben Pollack and Red Nichols, but a lack of ambition and desire for security led him to decline the invitation of an obscure clarinetist launching a new ...
(Tenor saxophone, vocals, 1919–89) Benjamin Joseph Jackson was born in Cleveland, Ohio and replaced Wynonie Harris as male vocalist with the Lucky Millinder Orchestra in 1945. From 1947 until the late 1950s he toured with his own group, the Buffalo Bearcats. He recorded for Queen/King from 1945; among his biggest hits were ‘I Love You, Yes ...
(Vibraphone, 1923–99) Milt Jackson diverged from his two great predecessors on vibes, Lionel Hampton and Red Norvo, by developing a linear, rhythmically inflected approach rooted in bebop rather than swing. He preferred the slightly larger vibraharp to the more familiar vibraphone, and adjusted the oscillator to give a trademark rich, warm sound. He recorded as ...
(Alto saxophone, 1931–2006) Jackie McLean worked with Sonny Rollins and practised with Bud Powell as a teenager. His invention and passionate delivery on alto saxophone attracted collaborations with Miles Davis (1951–52), Charles Mingus (1956, 1958–59) and Art Blakey (1956–57). He recorded a series of albums for Prestige and acted in Jack Gelber’s play The Connection (1959–61). His powerful recordings ...
(Drums, piano, b. 1942) Few drummers successfully bridge the gap between free jazz and bebop to the same extent as Jack DeJohnette. An intensely intuitive player, young DeJohnette played early on with Jackie McLean and Charles Lloyd. In 1969 he replaced Tony Williams in Miles Davis’s electric ensemble, appearing on the essential Bitches Brew (1969). After leaving ...
(Instrumental group, 1981–present) Bassist Jimmy Haslip and keyboardist Russell Ferrante joined drummer Will Kennedy as the backing band for a 1979 recording by guitarist Robben Ford. By 1981, that same quartet recorded its debut for Warner Bros. under the band name Yellowjackets. When Ford left the band the following year, he was replaced by alto saxophonist Marc Russo. ...
(Vocal duo, 1938–63) One of the most accomplished and influential vocal duos of the 1940s and 1950s, Johnnie Robert Wright (b. 1914) and Jack Anglin (1916–93) joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1947, but soon moved on to Shreveport’s Louisiana Hayride. The duo is best known for its 1950s hits, including ‘Poison Love’, ‘Cryin’ Heart Blues’ and ...
(Vocals, b. 1937) Born in Maud, Oklahoma, Jackson was discovered by Hank Thompson and first recorded country for Decca in 1954. After appearing on shows with Elvis Presley and a label switch to Capitol, she cut several rockabilly classics. Jackson introduced much-needed glamour to the largely male world of rockabilly, and her rasping vocal style is ...
(Vocals, guitar, songwriter, b. 1936) Jack Scafone was born in Windsor, Ontario. He wrote most of his own material and all his recordings are highly distinctive, owing to his bluesy, baritone voice and, in many cases, the vocal harmonies of The Chantones. A shy man, he should have become a major country ...
(Vocals, b. 1932) Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson (named after the revered Civil War general) was born in Emerson, North Carolina. He grew up in poverty and suffered physical abuse at the hands of a cruel stepfather. After running away from home at 15 and serving a four-year stint in the US Navy, Jackson worked as a sharecropper in Georgia ...
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.