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(Composer, arranger, b. 1923) Cincinnati-born George Russell is one of a small number of jazz musicians whose primary reputation was earned as a composer and theoretician rather than as an instrumentalist. Initially a student of drums and later a pianist, Russell ultimately limited his onstage contribution to conducting, albeit in the style of a consummate showman. He ...

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

Jazz and R&B star George Benson (b. 1943) seemed destined for a respected but low-key career in cool jazz until he adopted a funky hybrid of jazz and soul for the 1976 album Breezin’. Driven by accessible instrumentals and a smash reworking of Leon Russell’s ‘This Masquerade’, the album made Benson the biggest star to cross over from jazz to pop ...

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

With his wide range of standard and unorthodox techniques, George Lynch (b. 1954) became a guitarist’s guitarist as he cruised through the various incarnations of his bands Dokken and Lynch Mob. Born in Spokane, Washington, and raised in California, Lynch became lead guitarist of Dokken in 1980 after auditioning for Ozzy Osbourne in 1979 and losing out ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

Pigeonholed as the ‘quiet one’, misunderstood as an adopter of Eastern religion and music, and overshadowed (sometimes maligned) by his prolific, trail-blazing bandmates Lennon and McCartney, George Harrison (1943–2001) might have become a footnote in musical history. But as a member of The Beatles, Harrison made the words ‘lead guitar’ a household term and steadily developed as ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

1685–1759 English composer George Frideric Handel is one of the best known of all Baroque composers. His gift for melody, his instinctive sense of drama and vivid scene-painting, and the extraordinary range of human emotions explored in his vocal compositions make his music instantly accessible. Works such as Messiah (1741), Water Music (1717) and Music for the Royal Fireworks ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(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 ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Bass, 1892–1969) Known for his powerful, slap-bass sound and signature solos, Foster worked with the Magnolia Band and A.J. Piron before playing in Fate Marable’s riverboat band (1918–21) and collaborating with Kid Ory and others during the 1920s. In 1928 he played with King Oliver’s Dixie Syncopators in New York and then joined the Luis Russell Orchestra ...

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

(Piano, composer, 1898–1937) One of the most enduringly popular composers of the twentieth century, Gershwin composed such enduring melodies as ‘Summertime’, ‘Embraceable You’ and ‘Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off’. His tuneful songs with their rich harmonic progressions are ideal for improvisation and were popular with jazz musicians including Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, ...

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

(Clarinet, alto saxophone, 1900–68) Lewis (born George Louis Francis Zeno) led bands in New Orleans in the 1920s, but he remained in the Crescent City while many of his colleagues headed north to Chicago, where the Jazz Age was being forged on the city’s South Side. Lewis did not record until the 1940s (in sessions that teamed ...

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

(Bandleader, pianist, 1902–63) Luis Russell first worked in New Orleans, then in Chicago with King Oliver, where he began moving the New Orleans sound towards a big-band format. Between 1929–31 he led one of the best early swing-oriented bands in the country. Its major soloists were J.C. Higginbotham and Henry ‘Red’ Allen, who also recorded ...

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

(Clarinet, 1906–69) Great musicians are often judged by the reach of their influence on others, but Charles Ellsworth Russell’s clarinet was one of a kind, so personal and eccentric that it offered little to any would-be disciples. He arrived in New York in 1927 from the Midwest, where he had played with Bix Beiderbecke and other Chicago-area ...

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

(Trombone, 1915–97) Scottish-born George Chisholm made his name as a top-class traditional jazz trombone player, but also played piano and several other brass instruments. He started out in Glasgow dance bands before moving to London, where he became an accomplished bandleader and arranger, and a successful television personality in comedy shows in the 1960s. Notable jazz associations ...

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

(Tenor saxophone, flute, 1940–92) A passionate voice on tenor sax in Charles Mingus’s last band (1973–76), Adams co-led one of the most dynamic quartets of the 1980s with pianist Don Pullen; it also featured Mingus drummer Dannie Richmond and bassist Cameron Brown. In a series of 12 recordings through the 1980s for the Soul Note and Timeless labels, ...

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

(Vocal/instrumental group, 1973–present) Thorogood’s energetic, Delaware-based band drew inspiration from Elmore James and Hound Dog Taylor. Flash guitarist and raw vocalist Thorogood moved the band to Boston in 1974 and gained popularity on the blues circuit there, leading to its 1978 self-titled debut on Rounder Records. The 1979 album Move It On Over was a commercial breakthrough and ...

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

(Radio showman, 1895–1968) Best known as the emcee of the Grand Ole Opry from its start until the late 1940s, Hay had an earlier career as a newspaper columnist and radio announcer in Memphis, followed by a spell on WLS in Chicago, where he presented the ancestor of the National Barn Dance. Joining WSM in Nashville in ...

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