Antoine Domino Jr. was born on 26 February 1928 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the youngest of eight children. His father played violin and worked at the Fair Grounds Race Track in New Orleans. Young Antoine studied piano and credits Harrison Varrett, a former member of Papa Celestin’s band, with giving him the advice and encouragement to keep ...
(Piano, singer-songwriter, b. 1928) Signed to Imperial Records, New Orleans-born Antoine Domino’s first million-seller, ‘The Fat Man’ (1949) began a run of over 60 US pop and R&B hits by 1964, many written by Domino with Dave Bartholomew. Other million-selling classics included ‘Ain’t That A Shame’ (1955), ‘Bo Weevil’, ‘I’m In Love Again’ and ‘Blueberry Hill ...
(Trumpet, 1923–50) Theodore ‘Fats’ Navarro died prematurely and left a limited recorded legacy, most of it as a sideman. Nonetheless, he stood alongside Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis as one of the most significant trumpeters in bebop. He took over Gillespie’s chair in Billy Eckstine’s seminal big band in 1945, and enjoyed a brief but creative relationship ...
(Piano, vocals, composer, 1904–43) Thomas Wright ‘Fats’ Waller developed his playing style during the early 1920s under the tutelage of Harlem stride pianists James P. Johnson and Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith. The son of a Baptist preacher, he began playing in the church and by the age of 15 was the house organist at the Lincoln Theatre. He ...
Like a great river that runs endlessly, forming numerous tributary streams as it flows, jazz continues to evolve over time. And no matter how far the River Jazz may flow from its source – whether through stylistic evolution or technological innovation – the essential spirit of the music remains intact. Granted, the more academic and esoteric extrapolations of ...
Albert Clifton Ammons was born in Chicago, Illinois in March 1907. As a young man he learned from Jimmy Yancey, who cast a long shadow over Chicago blues pianists through his work at rent parties, social functions and after-hours jobs. Ammons came to know other pianists and the blues specialists gathered together in Chicago to create a coterie ...
(Piano, vocals, 1927–80) Milburn was a Houston pianist whose rollicking piano-playing and versatile singing was a major influence on Fats Domino and others. Milburn’s first hit was the 1948 party classic ‘Chicken Shack Boogie’. Milburn could croon a soulful ballad, but made a bigger impact with horn-driven material such as ‘Roomin’ House Boogie’ and ‘Sax Shack Boogie’, along ...
(Organ, piano, arranger, 1916–96) William Ballard Doggett was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band he led was taken over by Lucky Millinder in 1940 and Doggett stayed on as pianist and arranger. After working with the Ink Spots, he played with Louis Jordan’s band from 1947–51. He was active as a studio pianist, organist and ...
(Vocals, 1908–67) A crooner and scat singer, Billy Banks was a protégé of agency impresario Irving Mills. He headlined a handful of legendary records in 1932 by the Rhythmakers – less interesting for his vocals than for the punchy, eccentric work of the all-star band, which included Henry ‘Red’ Allen, Pee Wee Russell, Fats Waller ...
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 ...
(Trumpet, 1930–56) The tragic death of Clifford Brown in a road accident robbed jazz of one of its brightest young stars, but even his truncated legacy has established his standing as a major figure and profound influence. He took up the trumpet at the age of 13, drawing on the influence of bebop stars Dizzy Gillespie and Fats ...
If swing in its most characteristic form was a hot and hard-driving music, William ‘Count’ Basie showed that there was a cooler and softer side to the music, an alter ego that even at swift tempos could move with a relaxed, almost serene restraint that subliminally mirrored the streamlined design forms of the Machine Age, in which ...
(Trumpet, producer, composer, b. 1918) Davis Louis Bartholomew was born in Edgard, Louisiana. He was one of the most prominent bandleaders in New Orleans in the mid-1940s. He recorded for DeLuxe, King and Imperial during the 1940s and 1950s, but is best known as the producer, bandleader and songwriting partner of Fats Domino, ...
As is the case with pretty much all stars, before the beautiful butterfly came the unremarkable caterpillar. Bowie was born not on Mars but in Brixton, South London. He started life as David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947. His father was a promotions officer for the children’s charity Barnardo’s and his mother a cinema usherette. He had one ...
(Vocal group, 1958–present) Formed in New York’s Bronx in 1958 by Dion DiMucci, Angelo D’Aleo, Carlo Mastangelo and Fred Milano, this doo-wop group had had several US hits by 1960, including 1959’s ‘A Teenager In Love’, also a UK hit. Dion went solo in 1960, scoring more US hits, the biggest 1961’s million-selling US ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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sweep of incredible photographs.