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(Vocals, guitar, b. 1947) Not many men could have replaced Carter Stanley after his death in 1966, but Larry Sparks had the high, lonesome edge, the personal intimacy and the songwriting skills to do so. He had been a harmony singer in The Stanley Brothers since 1964, and became the lead singer of The Clinch ...

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

Larry Coryell (b. 1943), a father of jazz-rock fusion, has recorded more than 70 albums over the past 35 years. Born in Galveston, Texas, Coryell tried his hand at a number of instruments before settling on the guitar. Chet Atkins, Chuck Berry and Wes Montgomery were major influences. As a child Coryell studied piano, switching to ...

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

With his work as a studio player and as a prolific solo and guest artist, Larry Carlton (b. 1948) has long been known as a guitarist’s guitarist. Carlton has won three Grammys for his performances and compositions. Carlton started learning to play guitar when he was six years old. He warmed to jazz in high school and was influenced by ...

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

(Guitar, b. 1943) Guitarist Larry Coryell got his start in New York with Chico Hamilton. He was a trailblazer of both free jazz and jazz-rock fusion in groups such as the Free Spirits – with saxophonist Jim Pepper and drummer Bob Moses – and in vibist Gary Burton’s band. A remarkable technician, Coryell also ventured into free-jazz territory with ...

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

(Vocal group, 1972–present) This veteran group provides a vehicle for the talents of brothers Ron and Russell Mael. Anglophile Californians, the Maels came to Britain in 1973 after two failed albums, the first as Halfnelson. Recruiting Adrian Fisher (guitar), Martin Gordon (bass) and Dinky Diamond (drums) they recorded Kimono My House (1974) featuring the memorable hit ‘This Town ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Vocal/instrumental group, 1971–present) Three former members of The Country Gentlemen – John Duffey, Tom Gray and Mike Auldridge (dobro, b. 1938) – co-founded The Seldom Scene in 1971 with John Starling (vocals, guitar, b. 1940) and Ben Eldridge (banjo, b. 1938). Several of them had white-collar careers so they could play infrequently (thus the name) ...

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

Bill Monroe invented the ‘high, lonesome’ sound of bluegrass vocals, but The Stanley Brothers perfected it. Ralph and Carter Stanley refined those vocals into close, three-part harmonies that were unprecedented at the time and which have had a lasting influence ever since. If Bill Monroe And The Blue Grass Boys set the standard for bluegrass picking, The ...

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

Unlike practically any other strain of indigenous American music, bluegrass can be traced back to a particular time and a particular group of men: Kentucky-born mandolin player/bandleader Bill Monroe and a select handful of musicians he gathered in his band, The Bluegrass Boys. Monroe and the celebrated 1940s vintage line-up of The Bluegrass Boys first transformed traditional acoustic guitar-fiddle-bass-fiddle ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

Contemporary music whose ancestry lies in the Western classical tradition finds itself in a curious position. Nothing illustrates this better than the fact that we are not entirely sure what to call it. The label ‘classical’ seems anachronistic, especially when applied to composers who have challenged some of the fundamental assumptions of the classical tradition. ‘Concert music’ is similarly problematic ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

A small free-reed instrument, the harmonica, or mouth organ, is placed between the lips and moved to and fro to reach the rows of channels which house vibrating reeds, played by blowing into it. The arrival of the Chinese sheng in Europe in the eighteenth century encouraged a great deal of experimentation with free-reed instruments. In 1821 ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Unlike rock music, electronic music is made partly or wholly using electronic equipment – tape machines, synthesizers, keyboards, sequencers, drum machines and computer programmes. Its origins can be found in the middle of the nineteenth century, when many of electronic music’s theories and processes were conceived. In 1863 German scientist Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

Rock, jazz, soul; each of these genres, while containing a multiplicity of various offshoots, is defined by some kind of unifying theme. But this miscellaneous section, as any record collector will know, is where everything else ends up. Most of the styles within this ‘genre’ have little in common save the fact that they do ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

Indie guitarist and producer Bernard Butler (b. 1970) was born in Tottenham, London. After learning violin as a child, he took up guitar at the age of 14, inspired by Johnny Marr, learning Smiths’ guitar parts by watching the band play live. He was also influenced by Bernard Sumner and Aztec Camera’s Roddy Frame. After replying to ...

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

(Guitar, b. 1966) A French gypsy, Lagrene was hailed as Django Reinhardt’s heir upon the release of his first album at the age of 13. He has performed gypsy jazz in the company of swing veterans Benny Carter, Benny Goodman and Stéphane Grappelli, but has also developed a personal, fusion-oriented style and mixes both approaches in ...

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

(Vocal/instrumental group, 1966–present) Comprising Bob Hite (vocals, harmonica), Al Wilson (guitar, harmonica, vocals), Henry Vestine (guitar), Larry Taylor (bass) and Fito De La Perra (drums), this Los Angeles band’s heyday was between 1966–70, when covers of the Memphis Jug Band’s ‘On The Road Again’ and Henry Thomas’s ‘Goin’ Up The Country’ propelled them up the charts. ...

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

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