b. 1926 Canadian tenor Vickers joined the Covent Garden company in 1957, singing Verdi’s Gustavus and Berlioz’s Aeneas. In 1958 he sang the title-role in the Giulini-Visconti production of Don Carlos, and Siegmund at Bayreuth, followed by Jason in Cherubini’s Medea in Dallas. He sang Siegmund and three other roles in Vienna in 1959. He made his Metropolitan ...
b. 1926, Canadian A Heldentenor with a unique approach to the stage, Vickers had a compelling singing-acting style. Trained as a baritone, he brought a warmth to his tenor, but risked uncertainty at the top of his range. Vickers’ Otello is arguably the greatest ever recorded. His Peter Grimes, while not approved by Britten, also ...
The lead guitarist in Radiohead, Jonny Greenwood, has straddled the line between dissonance and resonance, noise and melody. His arsenal of effects, virtuosity and unconventional phrasing have been key features in this very English band’s development. No wonder Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour is a fan. ‘They’ve done some very good things. I can see why people make ...
Born in Düsseldorf, Germany, Ulrich ‘Uli’ Jon Roth (b. 1954) began his lifelong musical journey on the trumpet, before switching to the classical guitar at the age of 13. This training, combined with his passion for classical music, would help Roth become one of the main protagonists of the neo-classical shred guitar style, later brought ...
Joni Mitchell (b. 1943) evolved from a traditional folk singer in the 1960s to a world-class singer, composer and innovator whose unique guitar tunings and jazz explorations in the 1970s and 1980s are still widely influential. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in Canada. In 1965, she moved to the United States and began touring. Some of her original ...
Alternative-metal guitarist Adam Jones (b. 1965) was born in Park Ridge, Illinois. He learned violin in elementary school, continuing with the instrument in high school, before playing acoustic bass for three years in an orchestra and later teaching himself guitar by ear. Jones studied art and sculpture in Los Angeles before working in a Hollywood character shop sculpting ...
(Drums, 1911–85) Few players have defined a big band from the drum chair as strongly as Jonathon ‘Jo’ Jones did with Count Basie. When the first Basie records came out in 1937, their rhythm section was both a revelation and a revolution – and brought jazz drumming into a new, more sleek modernity. A master of the steely ...
(Trumpet, vocals, 1909–2000) By the time Jonah Jones came to prominence on New York’s 52nd Street, he had developed a fierce, intense attack that suggested Roy Eldridge without the high notes. He played and recorded with Stuff Smith from 1936–40 and on sessions with Teddy Wilson, Billie Holiday and Lionel Hampton. He worked with Cab Calloway ...
(Trumpet, arranger, b. 1933) Quincy Jones started out as a trumpet player but first achieved public acclaim as an arranger and subsequently went on to earn an even greater reputation as a record producer for artists including Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson. He began arranging with Lionel Hampton in 1951 and toured as music director of Dizzy Gillespie’s big ...
(Drums, 1927–2004) Powerhouse drummer Elvin Jones was the engine of John Coltrane’s legendary quartet in the 1960s, appearing on most of the saxophonist’s most popular recordings. He was the younger brother of pianist Hank and trumpeter Thad Jones and had worked with Bud Powell, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and J.J. Johnson prior to joining Coltrane. A ...
(Flugelhorn, cornet, valve trombone, 1923–86) The middle brother in Detroit’s musical Jones family, Thad Jones joined older sibling Hank at age 16 and, after wartime service, played with younger brother Elvin in Billy Mitchell’s band. He rose to prominence with Count Basie during a nine-year tenure (1954–63), but he became best known for the 13-year ...
(Vocals, piano, b. 1979) An overnight sensation, Norah Jones’s debut album Come Away With Me (2002) won numerous Grammy Awards and its sales revitalized Blue Note Records. Introduced by her mother to Billie Holiday’s music, Jones won Down Beat Student Music Awards in 1996 and 1997 and studied jazz piano at North Texas State University prior to ...
(Vocals, banjo, 1913–98) Born in Niagara, Kentucky, Louis Marshall Jones was one of the Grand Ole Opry’s most beloved figures for more than 50 years, as well as a popular cast member of Hee Haw, a nationally syndicated country-music television comedy show that aired from 1969 to 1994. Styles & Forms | War Years | ...
Born on 12 September 1931, near Saratoga, Texas, in a remote region of East Texas known as The Big Thicket, George Glenn Jones is widely considered to be country music’s quintessential honky-tonk singer and probably the most influential artist to come along since Hank Williams’ death in 1953. Throughout his 50 years of record-making, Jones has ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1959) Graham was, like Alejandro Escovedo, an alumnus of The True Believers, who found in alt.-country an effective catalyst for fusing his Mexican-American childhood and his punk-rock youth. With a rumbling baritone not unlike Tom Waits’, Graham wrote haunting songs about real despair and possible redemption on such albums as 2002’s Hooray ...
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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.