(Clarinet, 1895–1944) The most fluid and graceful of the classic New Orleans clarinetists, Noone worked with trumpeter Freddie Keppard (1914) and also with the Young Olympia Band (1916) before following Keppard to Chicago in 1917. A member of King Oliver’s first Creole Jazz Band (1918–20), he also played in Doc Cooke’s Dreamland Orchestra (1920–26) before forming his popular Apex ...
(Bandleader, arranger, 1902–47) While working as a music teacher in Memphis, Mississippi-born Lunceford formed a band called the Chicksaw Syncopators. They first recorded in 1930 and after four years of touring gained a residency at the Cotton Club and became the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra. Renowned for its polished stage presence, the band was nevertheless musically tight and ...
Although routinely – and fairly – described as the father of country music, Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933) was actually something more. Having established himself in that genre, he gradually moved towards mainstream popular music and, but for his early death, would probably have found a niche there. So far as country music is concerned, though, his ...
(Vocal/instrumental duo, 1927–33) The sound of the steel guitar has been part of country music almost from the beginning. An influential early exponent was Jimmie Tarlton (1892–1979), who partnered singer-guitarist Tom Darby (1891–c. 1971) in a series of duet recordings between 1927 and 1933, including two of the biggest hits of the period, ‘Birmingham Jail’ and ‘Columbus Stockade ...
(Vocals, 1899–2000) Born in rural Louisiana, Davis first made his name singing on radio station KWKH in Shreveport. From 1928 onwards, he was a popular recording artist, initially with sentimental and cowboy songs, then with raunchy blue yodels in the manner of Jimmie Rodgers. These included ‘She’s A Hum Dum Dinger From Dingersville’ and ‘Bear Cat ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1930s–50s) Jimmie Revard And His Oklahoma Playboys formed one of the best and most prolific of early western-swing bands. Revard (1909–91) was from Oklahoma but his band was based in San Antonio, Texas; the original band included Adolph and Emil Hofner, among others. In their heyday, the Playboys struggled locally to compete with The Tune ...
(Vocals, songwriter, 1909–79) Born in Blue Lick, Kentucky, James Skinner performed on radio stations in Knoxville, Tennessee, Huntington, West Virginia and elsewhere, worked in Nashville as a successful songwriter and also owned and operated a popular record store in Cincinnati, Ohio, for years. Styles & Forms | War Years | Country ...
(Vocals, songwriter, folklorist, 1907–98) James Corbett Morris, born in Mount View, Arkansas, started writing songs for the entertainment and edification of his students when he was a schoolteacher. He later penned some country classics, including ‘Tennessee Stud’ (a hit for Eddy Arnold in 1959), ‘The Battle Of New Orleans’ (a No. 1 single for ...
(Vocals, 1897–1933) Jimmie Rodgers, ‘The Singing Brakeman’, struggled against poor health and the rigours of the road to forge a new American folk music that would influence country music for generations. Rodgers wrote songs like ‘T.B. Blues’, ‘Travelin’ Blues’, ‘Train Whistle Blues’ and his 13 ‘blue yodels’. Rodgers’ voice and inherent honesty attracted legions of listeners. Rodgers developed ...
The most strikingly original and authoritative voice on cornet since Louis Armstrong, Leon ‘Bix’ Beiderbecke set the example for a generation of aspiring white jazz players during the 1920s. His meteoric rise to fame was followed by a dramatic fall from grace that led to his ultimate death from alcoholism at the age of just 28 in 1931. A Self-Taught Genius ...
Edward ‘Kid’ Ory was born in LaPlace, Louisiana in 1886. He learned trombone and led a group of young musicians, the Woodland Band, which he took to New Orleans around 1908. He played with veteran jazzmen in the following years and gained a reputation as a powerful ensemble player and inspired soloist, especially where the blues were ...
(Instrumental group, 1912–18) Freddie Keppard’s Original Creole Orchestra toured extensively during the teens as an early harbinger of authentic New Orleans jazz, reaching big-time vaudeville’s prestigious Orpheum circuit. Powerful pioneer trumpeter Keppard (1889–1933) had with him Creole clarinetists George Baquet, ‘Big Eye’ Louis Nelson and Jimmie Noone, pioneer bassist Bill Johnson and multi-instrumentalist Dink Johnson as a ...
(Cornet, 1905–65) As a child, Nichols played in his father’s brass band. After moving to New York in 1923 he teamed up with trombone player Miff Mole, and this marked the start of a long musical partnership. With Mole, Nichols recorded various line-ups under different names, the most common of which was Red Nichols & His ...
(Cornet, trumpet, 1900–39) A stylistic descendant of King Oliver, Ladnier learned under Bunk Johnson and played in various bands around New Orleans. Around 1917 he moved to Chicago, where he became part of the hot jazz scene and worked with Jimmie Noone and King Oliver. In 1925 he toured Europe with Sam Wooding’s band and the following ...
(Drums, 1898–1959) The grandfather of jazz drumming, Baby Dodds played in Fate Marable’s riverboat band from 1918–21 before joining King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band and relocating to Chicago. He remained there for the rest of his career, collaborating with Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers and Armstrong’s Hot Seven, as well as trombonists Kid Ory and Miff ...
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.