(Vocals, guitar, b. 1946) Hubbard made his reputation early on by writing the rousing, tongue-in-cheek sing-along, ‘Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother’, which Jerry Jeff Walker turned into his theme song. Alcohol and record-company problems prevented Hubbard from building on that success until the 1990s when he sobered up and emerged as one of the finest ...
Exploding on to a generally lethargic blues scene in 1983 with his Texas Flood album, Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954–90) administered a high-voltage charge that revitalized the blues with his stunning, ecstatic playing and imagination. He took inspiration from the most stylish of his idols – Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf, Albert King – but it ...
More than any other hard-rock or heavy-metal duo, Iron Maiden guitarists Adrian Smith and Dave Murray (b. 1956) set the standard for twin-guitar harmony lines and riffs. Indeed, their killer riffs and epic songs have helped to make Iron Maiden one of the most influential metal bands of all time. Murray was born in Edmonton, England. Inspired by ...
(Tenor saxophone, 1921–55) Wardell Gray died in mysterious, drug-related circumstances without fulfilling his immense potential. His control and invention at fast tempos and fluent, swinging style on the tenor saxophone adapted readily to both swing and bebop settings, while his ballad playing was strong in both emotion and tonal warmth. His sadly underweight recorded legacy is largely ...
Ray Charles Robinson was born on 23 September 1930 in Albany, Georgia. Blind by the age of seven, he was educated at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, where he studied piano and learned to read music in braille. A Musical Education Shortly after his fifteenth birthday, he was expelled and left ...
In the 1960s and early 1970s, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was the primary alternative to Miles Davis’s domination of the field. Hubbard came up in the hard-bop era, blew free jazz with Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, and established a body of exemplary compositions, recordings and improvisations with the best of the 1960s Blue Note artists: Art Blakey ...
(Drums, b. 1937) James ‘Sunny’ Murray is one of the quintessential free-jazz drummers. His most enduring legacy may be his many recordings with Cecil Taylor and Albert Ayler, which belie his beginnings with stride pianist Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith and swing era trumpeter Henry ‘Red’ Allen. Murray was as melodic on drums as Taylor was percussive on the piano ...
Although Robert Cray’s clean, good looks, precise guitar lines and slick presentation earned him some knocks from critics early on in his career (hardcore blues aficionados tended to dismiss him as ‘blues lite’ for yuppies), he later gained their respect for his smart songwriting and razor-sharp guitar licks, along with an intensely passionate vocal style reminiscent of the ...
The premiere torch-bearer for the blues-rock boom of the 1980s, Texan guitar wizard Stevie Ray Vaughan galvanized a generation of players and fans alike with his pyrotechnic licks and flamboyant stage presence. Connecting deeply with both the psychedelic, ‘voodoo chile’ mystique of Jimi Hendrix and the down-home roadhouse grittiness of his biggest guitar influence, Albert King, Vaughan ...
(Bandleader, 1884–1967) Otto Gray, leader of the first truly professional western band The Oklahoma Cowboys, is often given only perfunctory attention in country-music histories. But his group was both popular and significant – and introduced hundreds of future musicians, particularly in the Midwest and Northeast, to country music. Gray, an astute businessman from Stillwater, ...
(Vocals, bandleader, b. 1926) One of the most important singers and innovators of the 1950s and 1960s, Perryville, Texas-born Ray Price introduced a more rhythmic and modernized variation of honky-tonk in the 1950s. In the early 1960s Price alienated some honky-tonk fans when he embraced the pop influences of the Nashville sound, with easy-listening hits like ...
(Vocals, double bass, b. 1934) Campi recorded rockabilly in Texas 1956–59, then moved to California and became a school teacher. He returned to music in the 1970s and had several releases on Rollin’ Rock, which proved very popular in Europe. He also undertook a lot of session work, backing other rockabilly artists. Campi first toured Britain ...
(Vocals, b. 1945) Arguably one of Canada’s finest vocal exports, over 25 of Murray’s 50-plus country hits between 1970 and 1991 crossed over to the pop chart. Ten country No. 1s in that period curiously did not include her two million-selling pop chart-toppers – ‘Snowbird’ (1970) and ‘You Needed Me’ (1978). Apart from these, Murray delivered 1980’s ‘Could ...
b. 1947 American pianist After studying in New York, Perahia won the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1972. In 1973 he appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival, where he worked with Britten and Pears. He has recorded all the Mozart concertos (directing the English Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard), and the Beethoven concertos with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Haitink. Introduction ...
(Vocals, 1927–90) Johnnie Ray’s emotional delivery made him stand out in a crowd of early 1950s crooners, especially among young girls. The Oregon native was signed to Columbia’s R&B subsidiary Okeh Records. But his big hit, ‘Cry’, a million-seller that featured a typically overwrought performance and background vocals by The Four Lads, had little to do with ...
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...
CURATED
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.