(Guitar, vocals, 1915–75) Many guitarists might sound as though they have extra fingers, but Theodore ‘Hound Dog’ Taylor, who did not become a full-time musician until he was well past 40, actually had an extra digit on each hand. Producer Bruce Iglauer founded the Alligator label in 1971 expressly to record the guitarist’s energetic, raw ...
Blues-rock guitarist Mick Taylor was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire in 1949. A guitarist from the age of nine, he was in his teens when he formed a group with some school friends that subsequently evolved into the Gods. Taylor made two singles with the band. When Eric Clapton failed to turn up for a Bluesbreakers gig in Welwyn Garden ...
(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 ...
(Piano, b. 1929) Since the late 1950s, pianist Cecil Taylor has maintained a prime position in the pantheon of free jazz. He was one of the first jazzmen to jettison standard chord changes, fixed rhythms and expected ensemble roles in the interest of musical democracy. Taylor developed his unorthodox style while studying at New England Conservatory. Duke Ellington ...
(Vocals, b. 1935) Singer Koko Taylor (née Cora Walton) earned the title ‘The Queen of Chicago Blues’ due to her no-nonsense, brazen vocal style. She writes much of her own material, songs that resonate with womanly power and assert her claim to blues royalty. Taylor grew up singing gospel in Memphis and switched to the blues after moving ...
(Guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, vocals, b. 1948) Colorado’s Otis Taylor is the most inventive blues songwriter to emerge in recent decades. The Chicago native revives the genre’s role as protest music, often telling stories of lynchings, racial injustice and homelessness. His use of archaic Appalachian banjo tunings, droning progressions and digital delay creates ...
(Comedy group, 1962–69) Though they scored their only big hit, ‘I’m The Urban Spaceman’, two years later, this London band, led by Vivian Stanshall (vocals, euphonium) and Neil Innes (vocals, guitar), had run in the same pack as The New Vaudeville Band, Whistling Jack Smith and other leading lights of a 1966 craze for ...
(Guitar, singer-songwriter, b. 1948) Discovered by The Beatles’ Apple label, for whom he recorded his first album in 1968, Taylor moved back to America to seek a cure for heroin addiction. He signed to Warner Bros and unleashed the three-million-selling Sweet Baby James in 1970, featuring the No. 3 single ‘Fire And Rain’. Although his early ...
(Rapper, b. 1971) Raised in Long Beach, California, his teenage years often found Calvin Broadus – a.k.a. Snoop Dogg – in trouble with the law. He was fortunate that Warren G., his collaborator in early rap explorations, was stepbrother of Dr. Dre of N.W.A.. Dre gave Snoop’s laconic style a break ...
(Singer-songwriter, b. 1989) Swift is a blonde, photogenic country singer-songwriter who achieved massive crossover success in mainstream America. Her eponymous debut peaked at No. 5 in 2006, and stayed in the Billboard 200 for the rest of the decade, achieving multi-platinum status. Two years later Fearless rocketed straight to No. 1 and included her most successful international ...
(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 ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1926–83) The highly theatrical Joseph Benjamin ‘J.B.’ Hutto sang in the Golden Crowns Gospel Singers as a child and made his first records with his backup band, the Hawks, in 1954. Hutto then left the music business but returned, rejuvenated, 10 years later. He toured with various incarnations of the Hawks ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1975–present) Chicago native Ed Williams learned slide guitar from his uncle, renowned bluesman J.B. Hutto. During the early years of the Blues Imperials, flamboyant frontman Ed continued working at his day job in a local car wash, but by the early 1980s the band had established a substantial regional following. Their 1986 Alligator Records ...
(Guitar, b. 1937) Born Morris Holt in Grenada, Mississippi, Slim began playing on Chicago’s West Side in the mid-1960s. In 1976, when Hound Dog Taylor passed away, Slim took over his Sunday afternoon gig at Theresa’s on the South Side. Slim’s band the Teardrops was featured on the 1970 Alligator anthology series Living Chicago Blues. Throughout ...
(Electric bass, b. 1940) One of a handful of electric-jazz bassists who have shaped the sound of the instrument, Swallow was a student at Yale University when he became attracted to music. An early apprenticeship with pianist Paul Bley grew into a long-term association and the two recorded frequently. Vibist Gary Burton provided another ongoing musical relationship. After a ...
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.