(Vocals, guitar, 1893–1981) Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, Walter ‘Furry’ Lewis played medicine shows as a young man. After moving to Memphis, he recorded 23 sides for Vocalion and Victor between 1927 and 1929. Despite a somewhat chaotic guitar technique, he was an indefatigable entertainer and he became a beloved figure among younger-generation aficionados throughout his ...
(Clarinet, alto saxophone, 1900–68) Lewis (born George Louis Francis Zeno) led bands in New Orleans in the 1920s, but he remained in the Crescent City while many of his colleagues headed north to Chicago, where the Jazz Age was being forged on the city’s South Side. Lewis did not record until the 1940s (in sessions that teamed ...
(Piano, 1905–64) Born in Chicago and inspired by Jimmy Yancey, Meade Anderson ‘Lux’ Lewis recorded an early boogie-woogie masterpiece, ‘Honky Tonk Train Blues’, for Paramount in 1927 (the song was also recorded for Parlophone, 1935 and Victor, 1937). He recorded for Decca in 1936 (‘Yancey Special’) and Vocalion, Blue Note and Solo Art throughout 1941, ...
(Piano, 1920–2001) John Lewis was an important pianist, composer and educator, but was best known as the musical director of the most successful jazz group of the era, the Modern Jazz Quartet. Over five decades, Lewis was the architect of the group’s characteristic fusion of jazz and classical music. The MJQ’s light, spacious, swinging ...
(Guitar, bass, bandleader, 1909–90) Texas Jim Lewis is a largely unheralded figure in western swing, but his varied activities deserve far more attention. His career encompassed 1930s stints on New York radio and in vaudeville, and a 1940s run in Hollywood making movies and recording. His Lone Star Cowboys were one of the best bands of ...
If Jerry Lee Lewis had never existed, it seems unlikely that anyone would have had a sufficiently vivid imagination to have invented him. Through a 50-year career, this massively talented, yet infuriatingly self-destructive genius has scaled the heights and plumbed the depths, never for one moment compromising his music or his life. Most people mellow with age. ...
Castor et Pollux was considered Rameau’s greatest achievement after he revised it in 1754. The storyline revolves around the generosity of one twin brother willing to forsake his unique immortality so that the other may live, but their complex situation creates strong portraits of inner conflict and tension between other characters, Rameau conveys the magical forces of Hades, ...
Inspired by Cage’s pioneering mixed-media events of the 1950s, Fluxus was an informal group of composers, artists and perfomers founded by the Lithuanian-born artist and architect George Maciunas (1931–78). After its first concert in Wiesbaden (1962), it remained active in Europe and the US intermittently until Maciunas’s death. The group also included the composers La Monte Young (b. 1935), ...
(Piano, vocals, b. 1935) After signing to Sun Records in 1957, Louisiana-born rock’n’roller Lewis, noted for his percussive piano style, opened his account with two million-selling US Top 3 hits, ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On’ and ‘Great Balls Of Fire’ (both 1957), but caused major media controversy during a 1958 UK tour when it was ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1979–present) Huey Lewis (b. Hugh Cregg III, vocals, guitar) and Sean Hopper (vocals, guitar) were refugees from country rock band Clover. They found global success with the pop-inflected blue-collar rock of their next incarnation. Their third album Sports (1983) became an American No. 1, and bore three Top 10 US tracks including ‘Heart And ...
(Vocals, b. 1985) Lewis was the third and most successful to date of Simon Cowell’s X-Factor reality TV show winners. She triumphed in 2006, her single ‘A Moment Like This’ an inevitable UK No. 1. After an 11-month recording break Lewis returned in 2007 with debut album Spirit, an international success that hit No. 1 in 10 countries ...
A rollicking, fast piano style characterized by repetitive eighth-note bass figures in the left hand, meshed with sharp, bluesy single-note runs in the right hand, boogie-woogie was an infectious form that had an immediate appeal to dancers. While the left hand remained tied to the task of covering driving bass lines in a kind of ‘automatic pilot’ ...
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) is said to have written the first film score with L’assassinat du duc de Guise (‘The Assassination of the Duke of Guise’, c. 1908). Many composers in the US and Europe followed suit, although few wished to make a career in films. A famous exception was Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957), whose scores include the Academy Award-winning The ...
The legend of Sun Records seems to expand and shine brighter with every passing year, as successive generations discover the almost unbelievable array of musical gems that were created at that modest little studio at 706 Union Avenue, Memphis. Sun was the brainchild of one man and it is no exaggeration to say that without his contribution, not ...
From its roots, country music has been associated with simplicity – in melody, in subject-matter and in instrumentation, and it is this that has perhaps ensured its longevity. However, all good musicians make their craft look simple, and the history of country music is packed with virtuosos, from the pioneering banjoist Earl Scruggs, through ...
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.