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(Drums, bandleader, 1909–39) Associated with the Savoy Ballroom from 1927, the Chick Webb band built a large audience in Harlem. In the 1930s arranger Edgar Sampson became the chief architect of its swinging style, which was propelled by Webb’s dynamic drumming and flashy solos, crackling with rim shots. He inspired Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Vocals, 1921–91) Louisiana-born Webb Pierce was one of the most popular honky-tonk singers of the post-Hank Williams zenith of the style in the 1950s. Throughout this decade, he dominated the charts with hits such as ‘Back Street Affair’ (1952), ‘There Stands The Glass’ (1953), and ‘Honky-Tonk Song’ (1957). Styles & Forms | War Years | Country Personalities | Ray ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocal duo, 1930s–60s) For years, husband and wife vocal team Andrew John Smik (b. 1914) and Jesse Wanda Crupe (b. 1919) sang on WWVA Jamboree, in Wheeling, West Virginia, and earned regional popularity within that radio show’s wide broadcast area. The Williamses were champions of old-time country music and their band The Border Riders created a ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocal/instrumental group, 1989–present) Texas-based band The Dixie Chicks initially included sisters Martie (vocals, violin, b. 1969) and Emily Erwin (vocals, dobro, banjo, b. 1972), Laura Lynch (bass) and Robin Lynn Macy (vocals, guitar). Their debut album, Thank Heavens For Dale Evans (1990), a mixture of folk music and traditional country, was released ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

b. 1948 English composer and producer Lloyd Webber met the lyricist Tim Rice in 1965 and within three years they had written Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (1968), which displays a strong lyricism and a close affinity to pop. His most successful musical was Cats, based on the poems by T. S. Eliot, which was one of the ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

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 ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Vocals, 1917–96) Sixteen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald joined Chick Webb’s band in 1934 and became its biggest attraction. After Webb’s death in 1939 she became titular leader of the orchestra, which continued until 1942; she then worked as a solo artist. After the war Fitzgerald revealed an uncanny talent for bebop scat singing; it drew the attention of Norman Granz, ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Clarinet, bassoon, 1902–91) Jazz’s first double-reed specialist on bassoon, Bushell played with Mamie Smith’s Jazz Hounds before a two-year stint with Sam Wooding’s Orchestra (1925–27). In 1928 he formed the Louisiana Sugar Babies with Fats Waller and Jabbo Smith, and he later worked with Otto Hardwick (1931), Fess Williams (1933), Fletcher Henderson (1935–36), Cab Calloway (1936–37) and ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(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 ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Trumpet, 1911–93) Mario Bauzá takes a large amount of credit for bringing music from his native Cuba into jazz. He worked with Noble Sissle and Chick Webb in New York in the 1930s before teaming up with Machito. While with Cab Calloway in 1939–40 he sparked Dizzy Gillespie’s interest in Cuban music, which eventually led to ‘Cubop’. He was ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Washboard, vocals, 1910–66) Robert Brown was born in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas and was the half-brother of Big Bill Broonzy. He left home to play with street singers in the Memphis area in the mid-1920s. In 1932 he moved to Chicago and teamed up with Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon. He made his recording debut for Bluebird in ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

By the end of the 1930s, the Swing era was in full force, ushered in by big bands led by Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, the Dorsey brothers (Jimmy and Tommy) and Glenn Miller. New Orleans jazz and its stylistic off-shoot, Dixieland, had both largely faded from popularity. New Orleans pioneers King Oliver and Jelly Roll ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

Latin jazz is commonly defined as the fusion of American jazz melodies, improvisation and chords with Latin American rhythms, predominantly those of Afro-Cuban origin. How this marriage of styles occurred is also one of the most significant cultural musical exchanges in history. Mention the birth of Latin jazz to any aficionado of the art form and they will invariably reply ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

The popularity of jazz hit a peak after the Depression years of 1929–33. By the end of 1934, huge numbers were tuning in to the NBC Radio series Let’s Dance, which broadcast performances by The Xavier Cugat, Kel Murray and Benny Goodman Orchestras. Goodman’s orchestra in particular caught on with the public and created a demand for live ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

As if at the convenience of history, the stock market crash in the final weeks of 1929 severed the 1920s from the 1930s. The breach was economic but its consequences were pervasive, sweeping away economic values and social illusions, and affecting all aspects of life for Americans and Europeans alike. America’s compliant 1920s middle class became the 1930s ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
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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.

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