SEARCH RESULTS FOR: Don Williams
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(Vocals, guitar, b. 1939) Texas-born Williams worked in 1964 with folk trio The Pozo-Seco Singers. Encouraged by producer Cowboy Jack Clement, his solo career began in 1971, and resulted in gentle hits like ‘Amanda’ (1973), ‘You’re My Best Friend’ (1976) and ‘Tulsa Time’ (1978). He enjoyed immense popularity in the UK, where he had success with ...

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

Classical guitarist-composer John Christopher Williams (b. 1941) is a Grammy-Award winning Australian classical guitarist who has explored many styles beyond the classical tradition. John’s father Leonard (Len) Williams was an accomplished guitarist who emigrated from Britain to Australia and was best known there for his jazz playing. He taught John to play guitar, and it soon became apparent that the ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

Martin Pugh grew up in England during the 1960s and 1970s. As a young musician influenced by rock’n’roll, Pugh developed his progressive, blues-and-folk-influenced style with his first band, known as The Package Deal, who performed in Devon and Cornwall in the early 1960s. Martin soon moved to London and joined Carl Douglas (‘Kung Fu Fighting’) and The ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on 5 May 1988 in Tottenham, a deprived part of North London with a high rate of unemployment. Her mother, Penny Adkins, was just 18 and an art student when her daughter was born. Adele’s father, Mark Evans, exited Adele’s life when she was aged three, leaving mother and daughter ...

Source: Adele: Songbird, by Alice Hudson

During the first half of the nineteenth century, London became the financial and commercial capital of the world, its population expanding to two and a half million. Concert life had stagnated at the turn of the century, but the first few years of the new century saw a new interest in the art and by 1810 development was ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Ga-a-ta’-no Don-it-set’-te) 1797–1848 Italian composer Between the death of Bellini (1835) and the emergence of Verdi, Donizetti was the dominant figure in Italian opera. He studied with Mayr and Padre Mattei. After composing numerous apprentice operas and various sacred, orchestral and instrumental works, he had his first real success with Zoraida di Granata (‘Zoraida of Granada’, 1822), which gave ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

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 ...

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

(Banjo, guitar, 1905–73) Originally from Indiana, Condon became associated with Chicago’s Austin High School Gang, a group of white West-Side teenagers who emulated King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band and created their own take on hot jazz. In 1927, Condon co-led a band with William ‘Red’ McKenzie (which also included Bud Freeman, Frank Teschemacher, Gene ...

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

(Alto saxophone, clarinet, vocals, composer, arranger, 1900–64) Renowned for crafting the polished sound of the mid-1920s Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, Redman’s innovative arrangements pre-dated the swing era by a decade. His sophisticated compositions were significantly affected by the driving, swinging trumpet work of Louis Armstrong, who played in Henderson’s orchestra throughout 1924. The conservatory-trained ...

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

(Guitar, vocals, 1903–82) Joe Lee Williams was born in Crawford, Mississippi to tenant farmer parents and by the age of five he was playing a homemade guitar. He left home in 1915 to hobo through the South. Williams worked tent shows and medicine shows with a jug band and as a soloist from 1918–24. Often accompanied by Little ...

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

(Harmonica, vocals, 1914–48) John Lee Williamson was born in Jackson, Tennessee. He taught himself harmonica at an early age and left home in his mid-teens to hobo with Yank Rachell and Sleepy John Estes through Tennessee and Arkansas. He settled in Chicago in 1934 and made his recording debut for Bluebird in 1937. His first song, ‘Good ...

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

(Tenor and soprano saxophone, 1923–90) Dexter Gordon is widely credited as the leading figure in the evolution of bebop on his instrument, the tenor saxophone. The Los Angeles native was influenced initially by stars of the swing era, in particular Lester Young, and went on to adapt many of Charlie Parker’s alto saxophone innovations to the tenor. ...

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

(Piano, vocals, 1928–2002) Rosco Gordon was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He won an amateur contest in 1950 and was soon appearing on WDIA radio with his own show. He began recording with Sam Phillips in 1951; Phillips sold the master of ‘Booted’ to Chess Records and the master of ‘No More Doggin’’ to Modern. Gordon had two hits ...

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

(Harmonica, vocals, c. 1912–65) Alex Ford ‘Rice’ Miller was born in Glendora, Mississippi. He taught himself the harmonica at the age of five and by his early teens had left home to sing and play as ‘Little Boy Blue’. He worked streets, clubs and functions through Mississippi and Arkansas during the 1930s, often playing with Robert ...

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

(Cornet, 1936–95) Besides serving as the perfect complement for Ornette Coleman in the saxophonist’s early quartet, cornettist Don Cherry was a pioneer of the now-popular ‘world music’ movement. His musician father brought the family to Los Angeles from Cherry’s birthplace in Oklahoma, where Cherry played in the Jazz Messiahs before meeting Coleman. After leaving the Coleman group and ...

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