(Guitar, vocals, b. 1949) A passionate, gospel-influenced singer, Walker came up in the 1960s on the San Francisco blues scene. In 1975 he began singing with the Spiritual Corinthians, remaining on the gospel circuit until 1985 when he formed his own band, the Boss Talkers. He recorded some strong albums during the 1980s for the ...
(Loo-e’ An-dre’-sen) b. 1939 Dutch composer Born into a distinguished family of Dutch musicians, Andriessen made a name for himself as part of an activist group of young composers who demonstrated at concerts of the Concertgebouw and together created a two-hour musical ‘morality’, Reconstructie, on the life of Che Guevara. Following his encounter with American minimalism, works such ...
An incomparable figure in the history of jazz, Armstrong played with an unprecedented virtuosity and bravura, while retaining an individual tone and a deceptively laid-back style. In the early 1920s, he shifted the emphasis of jazz from ensemble playing to a soloist’s art form, while setting new standards for trumpeters worldwide. The sheer brilliance of his playing ...
(Alto saxophone, vocals, bandleader, 1908–75) Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five were major stars in the 1940s, providing energized recordings and exciting live shows. The alto saxophonist began by playing in swing bands, including Chick Webb’s, but in 1938 he gambled on the success of his own personality, fronting a small group playing in ...
(Bandleader, saxophonist, 1908–75) During the big-band era saxophonist Jordan was burning up the R&B charts with his small group, The Tympany Five. Jordan’s music combined jazz and blues with salty, jive-talking humour. People called the sound ‘jump blues’ or ‘jumpin’ jive’, and from 1942 to 1951, Jordan scored 57 R&B chart hits. Jordan’s best-loved songs include ...
(Loo-e’ Mo-ro’ Got’shôk) 1829–69 American composer Gottschalk was a charismatic piano virtuoso distinguished by his New Orleans upbringing and French-Creole ancestry. He dazzled the salons and saloons of New Orleans as a child prodigy, and at the age of only 13 went to study in Paris, where his skill was admired by Chopin and Berlioz. He toured as pianist and ...
(Loo’-es Shpôr) 1784–1859 German composer, violinist and conductor Spohr was a prolific composer of instrumental music and also wrote operas that foreshadow Wagner’s leitmotif technique. He first studied in his native Brunswick, and Mozart soon became his idol. He was a virtuoso violinist and between 1807 and 1821 went on many tours to the major European cities with his wife ...
The very name, ‘Classical Era’, speaks for itself: it proclaims a period that is regarded as ‘Standard, first-class, of allowed excellence’, with manifestations that are ‘simple, harmonious, proportioned, finished’, to quote a dictionary definition. The period from 1750 to roughly 1820 is widely recognized as one of exceptional achievement in music – it is the ...
The Enlightenment was a natural, if late, consequence of the sixteenth-century Renaissance and Reformation. Also known as the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment advanced to be recognized in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and brought with it new, controversial beliefs that upended the absolutisms on which European society had long been based. Absolute monarchy, ...
As part of the Renaissance (literally ‘rebirth’), which began in Italy in around 1450, the Baroque era was a revolution within a revolution. It saw a break from the Medieval view of humanity as innately sinful. Instead, Renaissance thinking cast individuals as a dynamic force in their own right and gave free rein to human imagination, ingenuity and ...
The word ‘Baroque’ is derived from the Portuguese barrocco, a term for a misshapen pearl, and it was still with this sense of something twisted that it was first applied – to the period between about 1600 and 1750 – in the nineteenth century. In 1768, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote: ‘a Baroque music is that in which the harmony ...
The first half of the nineteenth century was essentially a period of insurgence in Europe, from the French Revolution in 1789 to the series of uprisings that rocked the continent around 1848. Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution was also underway, beginning in Britain, then spreading south through the rest of Europe. With these two strands of revolution came ...
The early nineteenth century was a period of insurgence in Europe, beginning with the French Revolution in 1789 to the uprisings in 1848. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain before spreading south to the rest of Europe, was also making its mark. These two strands of revolution caused transformations in society: growing awareness of national identity, ...
In 1891, when the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) wrote his famous words ‘Life imitates art far more than art imitates life’, he had somehow managed to overlook the artistic realities of the late nineteenth century. By that time, after some 50 years of the High Romantic era, music and opera had brought real life on stage and ...
The late Baroque era (1700–50) was a time of major political change throughout Europe, involving a shift in the balance of power between sovereign states. Across the continent it was a period of almost continuous warfare, the effects of which were later felt in other parts of the world as a result of conflicting ambitions among the various trading ...
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.