A crucial figure in New York’s late 1970s new-wave scene, Tom Verlaine (b. 1949) was born Thomas Miller in New Jersey. At an early age, he learned piano before switching to saxophone, inspired by John Coltrane. He took up the guitar in his teens and began forging his own style, searching for new ways of expressing himself ...
(To-mas’ Loo-es’ da Vik-tôr’-ya) 1548–1611 Spanish composer After training as a choirboy at Avila Cathedral, Victoria spent his early adult life in Rome, principally at the Jesuit Collegio Germanico, as both pupil and teacher. He returned to Spain permanently in the 1580s, where he became the chaplain to Philip II’s sister, Maria; he remained there as organist ...
Driven by a fierce intelligence, a relentless pursuit of social justice and a wide-ranging taste in sounds and songs, Tom Morello (b. 1964) was the driving force behind the bands Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave. Morello has won Grammys and performed around the world inspiring and uniting people with music. Known for innovative guitar solos and varied, ...
(To-ma’-zo Al-be-no’-ne) 1671–1751 Italian composer Albinoni considered himself a dilettante, depending for a living neither on the success of his compositions nor on his ability as a performer. Although he was a prolific composer of operas, several of which were performed outside Italy, Albinoni is recognized chiefly for his concertos, the first of which (op. 2, 1700) ...
(To-ma’-zo Tra-ât’-te) 1727–79 Italian composer Trained in Naples, Traetta began his career as an opera composer there and in Rome. He was appointed to the Parma court in 1758, where his first few operas included two based on translations of texts used by Rameau, so bringing French structure into Italian opera (Ippolito ed Aricia, 1759; I tintaridi, ...
If any city could be cited as epitomizing the sense of decline and despair in the late nineteenth century it would be Vienna. Heartland of the oldest existing European empire, its shift from the liberalism of the 1840s towards the political conservatism of the 1890s onwards was typical, as was the inability of its emperor and ruling aristocracy to ...
(Vocals, piano, 1899–1993) Thomas A. Dorsey earned his greatest fame as the ‘Father of Gospel Music’ after leaving his blues career behind in 1932, but in his early days he was an important blues performer, songwriter, arranger and studio musician. In his youth in ragtime-era Atlanta and in Chicago from 1916, Dorsey developed his piano-playing ...
(Vocals, guitar, c. 1896–1956) Johnson was a highly influential early blues artist due to the impact of his three 1928 records for Victor, which earned him a niche as Mississippi’s first black recording star. Johnson recorded only three more 78s after that, for Paramount, plus a few unissued sides, but the songs he recorded for ...
(Cornet, trumpet, 1900–39) A stylistic descendant of King Oliver, Ladnier learned under Bunk Johnson and played in various bands around New Orleans. Around 1917 he moved to Chicago, where he became part of the hot jazz scene and worked with Jimmie Noone and King Oliver. In 1925 he toured Europe with Sam Wooding’s band and the following ...
(Bandleader, trombone, trumpet, 1905–56) With the break-up of the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, Tommy Dorsey quickly hired the Joe Haymes Orchestra en masse and built a new band to his specifications. For all the talent it would attract, however, it would always be built around the leader’s warm trombone sound and flawless perfection on ballads. The ...
(Vocals, banjo, 1895–1967) Tom Ashley (as everyone but record companies called him) learned his trade as an entertainer by working on travelling shows. In the 1920s he played in The Carolina Tar Heels and recorded exceptional banjo-accompanied versions of ‘The Coo Coo Bird’ and the traditional ballad ‘The House Carpenter’. As late as the 1950s he was working with ...
(Vocal/instrumental duo, 1927–33) The sound of the steel guitar has been part of country music almost from the beginning. An influential early exponent was Jimmie Tarlton (1892–1979), who partnered singer-guitarist Tom Darby (1891–c. 1971) in a series of duet recordings between 1927 and 1933, including two of the biggest hits of the period, ‘Birmingham Jail’ and ‘Columbus Stockade ...
(Vocals, guitar, songwriter, 1930–2000) One of the earliest pioneers of the Bakersfield Sound, Oklahoma City-born Tommy Collins (Leonard Raymond Sipes) began activities on the West Coast thanks to the encouragement of dj Ferlin Husky. Securing deals with Cliffie Stone’s Central Songs and Capitol Records, he began putting Bakersfield on the map with nationwide humorous hits like ...
(Vocals, songwriter, 1911–67) The first crooner in country music, Tommy Duncan’s name remains synonymous with Bob Wills and, for many years, he was the featured singer in The Texas Playboys. Regular quarrels between the two finally resulted in a split in 1948, though – better together than apart – Duncan returned to the fold in ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1933) Glaser was already a successful mainstream-country artist with 13 Top 40 hits to his credit when he joined Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter on the landmark 1976 album Wanted! The Outlaws. Tompall had grown up in rural Nebraska with his brothers Jim Glaser (vocals, guitar, harmonica, b. 1937) ...
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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.