Of all the great solo architects of the 1930s, none personified the smooth, penetrating sweep through space and time more ideally or organically than tenor saxophonist Lester Young. His fluid, unforced phrasing and undulating attack were matched to a cool, satin skin of sound that seemed to dispel all friction by decompressing the emotional density of the ...
AC/DC guitarist Angus Young – all five feet two inches of him – is a larger-than-life figure. Rising up from working-class Scottish roots to become the heart and soul of one of the greatest rock’n’roll bands of all time, Young, with his schoolboy outfit and Gibson SG in hand, has become the definitive rock-guitar icon. Born in Glasgow ...
Hailed as one of hard rock’s greatest rhythm guitarists, Malcolm Young (b. 1953) was born in Glasgow, Scotland. When he was 10, the family emmigrated to Sydney, Australia, where Malcolm and younger brother Angus were taught to play guitar by elder sibling George, a member of The Easybeats. Malcolm founded AC/DC with Angus in 1973. ...
Canadian rock legend Neil Young (b. 1945) has become respected as much for his playing as for his composing and vocal work with his occasional partners Crosby, Stills & Nash. Born in Toronto, Canada, Young got a ukulele from his father for Christmas in 1958. In 1960, Young moved to Winnipeg with his mother. A poor student ...
The young country movement was an industry-driven trend aimed at the mass market of teens and twenty-something music fans. Like the urban cowboys, young country artists often contemporized or diluted prevailing styles like honky-tonk and pop country for mass consumption. The early 1990s saw a continuation of the mid- and late-1980s neo-traditionalist movement and produced a glut of gifted young ...
(Vocals, 1932–96) Young reigned as one of country music’s most popular figures, frequently topping the charts with honky-tonk anthems like ‘Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young’ (1955), ‘I’ve Got Five Dollars And It’s Saturday Night’ (1956) and the Willie Nelson-penned ‘Hello Walls’. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he also had success with mellow Nashville ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1942) Young grew up listening to country music in his native Georgia, played folk music in Greenwich Village and recorded early country-rock with Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman in California. He wove these disparate experiences into vivid story songs that were recorded by the Eagles, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams Jr. and Dolly Parton. ...
Composed: 1959–61 Premiered: 1961, Schwetzingen Libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman Act I Hilda Mack recalls how her husband set out to climb the Hammerhorn 40 years ago. Dr Reischmann and Carolina, physician and secretary to the poet Gregor Mittenhofer, agree that no one thanks ‘the Servants of the Servant of the Muse’. Reischmann’s son Toni ...
(Guitar, vocals, b. 1945) This highly respected Canadian musician first came to prominence in 1967 as a member of Buffalo Springfield. Young’s solo career began in 1969 with Neil Young. For his next album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969), he recruited Danny Whitten (guitar), Billy Talbot (bass) and Ralph Molina (drums), collectively known as Crazy Horse. Shortly ...
(Vocals, b. 1979) Will Young is perhaps most famously remembered as the winner of UK TV talent show Pop Idol in 2002 over favourite Gareth Gates. Since then he has achieved the rare privilege of sustaining a chart career. After secrecy surrounding his homosexuality during the competition, the singer/actor went on to chart highly several times and sustain his ...
When the great Mississippi musician Riley King left the cotton fields to seek his fortune in Memphis in 1946, he had $2.50 in his pocket and a battered guitar in his hand. Today, his name is synonymous with blues music itself, yet his ascendance to the zenith of the blues world never altered his friendly, downhome ...
Billie Holiday was entirely untrained as a singer, but drew on the example of popular recording artists such as Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong in developing her musical approach. She was able to make much of poor songs as well as great ones. Her phrasing, intonation, attention to the weight and nuance of lyrics, and her lightly ...
(Tenor saxophone, clarinet, 1906–91) Freeman was one of the Austin High School Gang, a group of white, jazz-seeking teenagers who were inspired by New Orleans Rhythm Kings records and obsessed with the hot jazz scene on Chicago’s South Side. He recorded in 1927 with the McKenzie-Condon Chicagoans, then moved to New York to work with Red ...
Charlie Christian (1916–42) pushed guitar to the forefront of the big-band era, furthering the instrument’s evolution from a provider of acoustic accompaniment to an electrified foreground instrument that could pound out rhythm like a drum set or solo out front like a horn. His playing, in fact, was likened to jazz horn players who were leading the evolution ...
Charlie Christian was the last great figure to emerge from the jazz scene of the 1930s. He not only brought a perfectly formed approach to his music, but also an entirely new musical platform – the electric guitar. His career in the big time was brief, but Christian was a lighthouse whose beam still illuminates anyone with serious intentions ...
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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.