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(Vocals, 1931–64) With his pure sweet voice, sound business awareness and keen social concerns, Sam Cooke was a key figure in the early development of soul and pop. He was already a star as a member of gospel group The Soul Stirrers when he was sacked in 1956 for releasing a secular solo single. He launched his solo ...

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

Though guitar playing in the 1980s was often thought of as a ‘guitar Olympics’ of sorts, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora typically eschewed fretboard flights of fancy in favour of melodic, tastefully arranged solos designed to serve the band’s infectious hit songs. While this approach has kept him on the outside of the guitar-hero clubhouse, his impact on ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

(Za’-moo-el Shidt) 1587–1654 German composer Scheidt – a pupil of Sweelinck, organist, composer and himself a teacher – served as Kapellmeister to the Halle court from 1619. He published seven collections of sacred music: the earliest, Cantiones sacrae (‘Holy Songs’, 1620), contains eight-voice polychoral motets. One calls for instrumental doubling of parts; the musical style blends Italian and Netherlandish ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

The term Empfindsamkeit (meaning ‘sensitivity’) is associated with a particular aesthetic outlook prevalent in north Germany in the mid-eighteenth century. It refers to an intimate, melancholic expression, the ideals of which are found in the music and writings of C. P. E. Bach. His style is often rhetorical, with sudden pauses and changes of key, and expressive ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

The music of Latin America combines influences from the traditional music of the African slaves transported between 1450 and the end of the nineteenth century, music from the Spanish and Portuguese colonial powers, and latterly, pop and jazz from North America. Samba is an umbrella term describing an energetic style of dancing and drumming performed at the annual ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

Like the synthesizer, the sampler has had a huge influence on the course of electronic music. A sampler is an instrument that can record, store and replay brief sections of audio – ‘samples’. In many ways, the Mellotron might be regarded as the earliest example of a sampling instrument. However, the sampler really came into its own ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

(Trumpet, 1895–1936) An early practitioner of New Orleans jazz, Morgan travelled the Bay St. Louis-Pensacola-Mobile circuit and played Crescent City venues, including the Savoy on Rampart Street, before suffering a stroke in 1925. He recovered and in 1927 made recordings at the Werlein’s Music Store on Canal Street for the Columbia label, including ‘Mobile Stomp’, ‘Bogalousa ...

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

(Piano, arranger, bandleader, 1895–1985) Wooding led his Society Syncopators in the early 1920s before travelling to Berlin in 1925 with the Chocolate Kiddies revue. One of the first wave of expatriate American jazz musicians to live abroad, he spent the remainder of the 1920s in Europe playing with bands that featured star soloists such as Doc Cheatham ...

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

(Washboard, vocals, 1910–66) Robert Brown was born in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas and was the half-brother of Big Bill Broonzy. He left home to play with street singers in the Memphis area in the mid-1920s. In 1932 he moved to Chicago and teamed up with Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon. He made his recording debut for Bluebird in ...

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

(Piano, 1908–92) Samuel Blythe Price was born in Honey Grove, Texas. His recording debut came in 1929. In 1938 he moved to New York and became the pianist for Decca Records blues sessions. In this capacity – in addition to making his own recordings – he accompanied Blue Lu Barker, Johnny Temple and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, among ...

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

(Guitar, 1935–90) Respected sideman Lawhorn began a nine-year stint with Muddy Waters’ band in 1956 after working with harmonica players Sonny Boy Williamson II and Willie Cobbs, among others. Waters fired the Little Rock, Arkansas native in 1973 for excessive drinking. By then his razor-edged tone and imaginative soloing had already left an indelible mark on the blues. ...

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

(Drums, vocals, b. 1935) Shuffle master Lay was an important figure in the racial integration of 1960s blues. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama and moved to Chicago, where he played with Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf and other Chess Records artists. He joined the Paul Butterfield Blues Band for its first two albums and played on ...

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

(Guitar, vocals, 1937–69) Along with peers Otis Rush and Buddy Guy, Mississippi native Samuel Maghett pioneered the ghetto-born mix of soul singing and guitar pyrotechnics that defined Chicago’s West Side sound. ‘Easy Baby’ and ‘All Your Love’, cut for Cobra in the 1950s, are his signature tunes, but his Delmark LP West Side Soul (1967) is ...

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

(Various saxophones, flute, b. 1923) Sam Rivers boasts a most impressive résumé: bebop with Tadd Dameron and Dizzy Gillespie, hard bop with Miles Davis, free jazz with Cecil Taylor and Anthony Braxton, and Grammy consideration for his big band. Born in Oklahoma, Rivers played around Florida and Boston in the 1950s before settling in New ...

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

(Vocal/instrumental duo, 1920s–70s) The McGee brothers, Sam (1894–1975) and Kirk (1899–1983) from Franklin, Tennessee, were the first guitar stars of the Grand Ole Opry, and remained affiliated to the show for half a century. Sam’s adroit picking is exemplified by his own discs, including ‘Buck Dancer’s Choice’ and others with Uncle Dave Macon, whom ...

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