(Guitar, vocals, 1918–63) Elmore Brooks was born in Richland, Mississippi. He learned guitar at an early age and was playing functions by the age of 14. He often worked with Rice Miller from the late 1930s until he was drafted into the Navy in 1943. He rejoined Miller after the war and was headquartered in West Memphis, ...
The swooping, full-octave slide-guitar riff that opened Elmore James’s (1918–63) first record, ‘Dust My Broom’, in 1951 not only electrified the legacy of Robert Johnson, it also established one of the basic riffs of post-war blues. Bottleneck guitar had always been part of the blues, but James was the first to use it in a hard rocking ...
(Vocals, b. 1938) Jamesetta Hawkins was born in Los Angeles, California. She moved to the San Francisco area, where she was discovered by Johnny Otis. She made her recording debut at the age of 16 for Modern, and had a number-one R&B hit with her first record, ‘The Wallflower’ (a.k.a. ‘Roll With Me Henry’). ...
(Vocals, b. 1938) Los Angeles-born Jamesetta Hawkins was discovered by Johnny Otis, who helped her write her first US R&B hit (and four-week chart-topper), 1955’s ‘The Wallflower’, an ‘answer record’ to Hank Ballard’s ‘Work With Me Annie’. Her 1960 breakthrough came with four US Hot 100 singles, including two duets with Harvey Fuqua of The Moonglows. Crossover R&B ...
(Trumpet, 1916–83) Harry James grew up in a circus and went on to become a media celebrity as a bandleader, a fame that only intensified when he married actress Betty Grable in 1943. James made his initial reputation as a formidable trumpet player with Benny Goodman’s band before forming his own group in 1938, but lost some of ...
1843–1916, American The most influential American writer of the nineteenth century, James was known for a style that brimmed with psychological study and character analysis. Not too surprising, then, that his father was a writer of philosophy, while his brother was considered among the most important philosophers of his day. After attending Harvard Law School for ...
(Guitar, b. 1941) Drawing on systems that are both ancient (the blues) and modern (free jazz), this experimental guitarist forged an original vocabulary on his instrument that has rarely been imitated and remains one of the most strikingly individual approaches in jazz. Ulmer began his career working in organ bands around the Midwest in the 1960s, before moving to ...
(Trumpet, 1903–32) A key figure in the Duke Ellington Orchestra of 1926–28, Miley played a lead role on such classic pieces of early Ellingtonia as ‘East St. Louis Toodle-Oo’, ‘Black And Tan Fantasy’ and ‘Creole Love Call’. His uniquely expressive, growling trumpet style was influenced by the plunger mute approach of King Oliver, and served as one ...
1901–99 English percussionist Blades played as a drummer in the band of a travelling circus, and in orchestras for silent films. He joined the London Symphony Orchestra in 1940, and later worked with the Melos Ensemble and the English Opera Group. It was Blades who was actually heard (though not seen) when the Roman gladiator struck the gong at ...
(Vocals, b. 1974) A former member of the British army, Blunt (real name James Blount) served until 2003 (once at the Queen Mother’s funeral) and took songs he had written on duty in Kosovo into the studio. The piano balladry of ‘You’re Beautiful’ (2005) received so much airplay in the UK it moved up the charts (a rare occurrence), ...
(Piano, organ, vocals, 1939–83) James Carroll Booker III was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He studied classical piano from the age of four and made his recording debut for Imperial at 14. He worked as a session musician in New Orleans from the mid-1950s and recorded for many different labels, as well as playing and arranging ...
Like many early soul stars James Brown (born in South Carolina on 3 May 1933) came to music through the singing of his local church. He had his first success as frontman of The Famous Flames with the gospel R&B hit ‘Please, Please, Please’ in 1956. When 1958’s ‘Try Me’ hit the R&B No. 1 spot the floodgates opened ...
Louisiana native James Burton (b. 1939) is one of several guitarists weaned on country music who parlayed his unique talent into session and tour work with rock musicians while maintaining his ties to the country community. Burton first achieved local fame as a backing musician on the popular ‘Louisiana Hayride’ radio show, which spotlighted a young Elvis and rivalled ‘The ...
(Various saxophones, b. 1969) A musical prodigy from Detroit’s Creative Arts Collective, saxophonist James Carter toured Europe at the age of 16, worked with Wynton Marsalis and starred in Julius Hemphill’s saxophone opera Long Tongues. Since 1990, his New York ensemble has recorded a variety of ‘quiet storm’ romantic jazz, Django Reinhardt-style gypsy jazz, hard-core ...
(Harmonica, vocals, b. 1935) James Henry Cotton was born in Tunica, Mississippi and was inspired by hearing Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) on the radio. He worked with his mentor from the late 1940s until 1953, when he made his recording debut for Sun Records. He joined Muddy Waters in 1954 and played with him, ...
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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
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sweep of incredible photographs.