(Vocals, harmonica, guitar, 1899–1982) DeFord Bailey was a member of the original Grand Ole Opry and was its first big star, until he was dismissed from the troupe in 1941 because allegedly he either could not or would not learn new material. His ‘Pan American Blues’, a harmonica train imitation, was one of the early Opry’s ...
(Guitar, 1932–2005) The British guitarist was uncompromisingly, spontaneously cerebral, exploring atonal, anti-melodic, arhythmic yet associative ‘sound’, abjuring musical conventions. Yet his solos and collaborations with master improvisers of jazz and beyond were compelling. The author of Improvisation: Its Nature And Practice In Music (1993), Bailey considers traditions from Africa and India as well as the West. ...
Country music has been euphemistically called ‘white man’s blues’ or ‘the poetry of the common man’. While both descriptions have elements of truth, neither is quite accurate. It is, in fact, a broad, nebulous, over-reaching category with no exact boundaries or parameters. Over the decades country music has grown to encompass a greatly varied assortment of ...
An incomparable figure in the history of jazz, Armstrong played with an unprecedented virtuosity and bravura, while retaining an individual tone and a deceptively laid-back style. In the early 1920s, he shifted the emphasis of jazz from ensemble playing to a soloist’s art form, while setting new standards for trumpeters worldwide. The sheer brilliance of his playing ...
Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry is the oldest continuously broadcast live music programme in the world. Since it hit the airways in 1926, it has served as a springboard for dozens of key artists’ rise to national fame. Its presence in Nashville was central to the growth of the city’s music industry. Opry Origins The Opry started almost by accident one ...
Clarence Williams was born in 1898 in Plaquemine, Louisiana, migrating to New Orleans in the teens to play piano in the District and begin a long career as a composer, bandleader and musical promoter. He was manager of two early jazz venues – the Big 25 Club and Pete Lala’s Café – hiring the best musicians in the ...
(Vocal group, 1970–83) In 1972, Maurice White (drums) assembled a second line-up of Earth, Wind and Fire after two unsuccessful albums. This featured brother Verdine (bass), Jessica Cleaves (vocals), Ronnie Laws (saxophone), Larry Dunn (keyboards), Ralph Johnson (percussion), Roland Battista (guitar) and Philip Bailey (vocals). After further personnel changes, ‘Shining Star’ became the first in a string ...
(C-melody and alto saxophone, 1901–56) Known as ‘Tram’ by his colleagues, Trumbauer was a player of impeccable technique who had a major influence on many saxophonists in the 1920s (notably Benny Carter and Lester Young). He first recorded in 1923 with the popular Benson Orchestra of Chicago and by 1926 was playing alongside cornettist and kindred spirit Bix Beiderbecke ...
(Tenor saxophone, b. 1929) Admired by post-1960s Chicago improvisers as a founding member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson’s reputation spread after his first trip to Europe in 1977, but he was very sparsely recorded until the 1990s. Since then his huge tone and gutsy, freely associative statements have been ...
(Zhôrzh Be-za’) 1838–75 French composer When Bizet died at the age of 37, he was considered a failure by the French musical establishment. He had had several operas produced in Paris, but none of them had been wholly successful; now his latest work, Carmen, had caused a scandal. Bizet’s reputation was at its lowest ebb, but already ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1985–present) Axl Rose (b. William Bailey, vocals) and Izzy Stradlin (b. Jeffrey Isbell, guitar) were joined by Slash (b. Saul Hudson, guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Steve Adler (drums) to form a band that gave the heavy rock scene a mighty shaking. Signed to Geffen – after the 1986 EP Live ?1*@ Like A Suicide ...
The most mercurial guitarist of his generation, Jeff Beck (b. 1944) has never conformed to the conventional image of a guitar hero. He has repeatedly left or broken up bands before their commercial potential could be realized. He restlessly changes style from one album to the next, refusing to be tied down musically. And his live appearances are intermittent. ...
(Trumpet, vocals, 1884–1954) Oscar ‘Papa’ Celestin was a much-loved New Orleans fixture, who started out with the Algiers Brass Band, under Henry Allen Sr. at the turn of the century. In 1910 he founded the Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra with trombonist William ‘Baba’ Ridgley. Celestin recorded with OKeh and Columbia in the mid-1920s, and his recordings ...
Guitarist Pat Metheny emerged in the mid-1970s with a fully realized approach to his instrument that was wholly unique for its time, offering a refreshing alternative to both bop and fusion styles. His sweeping, warm-toned, reverb-soaked lines and liquid phrasing, once described by Down Beat magazine as ‘the sound of wind through the trees’, had a huge ...
Free jazz is seen by many as an avant-garde art form rather than a type of jazz, with its unpredictable rhythm and chord progressions. Evolving out of bebop in the 1940s and 1950s the exponents of free jazz abandoned traditional forms to expand the music’s creative possibilities, challenging mainstream listeners and players alike. The first documented free jazz recordings ...
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.