(Archivist, bandleader, 1873–1958) W.C. Handy, who led string quartets, brass bands and minstrel-show groups, was a major force in exposing the blues of southern blacks to a mainstream audience. In Memphis in the 1910s Handy, who would become known as the Father of the Blues, emerged with recordings of his compositions ‘Yellow Dog ...
Bessie Smith was one of the greatest vocalists of the twentieth century; her emotional delivery and exquisite phrasing has been an influence on instrumentalists as well as innumerable singers, both male and female. Many of her records, including ‘Gimmie a Pigfoot’, ‘Woman’s Trouble Blues’, ‘St. Louis Blues’ and the song that became an anthem of the Great Depression, ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1978–present) The W.C. Handy Award-winning duo patterned itself after Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. Guitarist John ‘Bowling Green’ Cephas (b. 1930) and ‘Harmonica’ Phil Wiggins (b. 1954) met at a jam session in Washington, DC and began performing together in 1978. They toured the globe on a US State Department tour and recorded throughout the 1980s ...
(Piano, arranger, bandleader, 1897–1952) The Georgia native came to New York in 1920 and worked at a music publishing company owned by Harry Pace and W.C. Handy. When Pace left in 1921 to form the Black Swan record label, Henderson followed as house pianist and arranger. In 1923 Henderson’s session band, which included young talents ...
(Vibraphone, 1930–90) Vibraphonist Lionel Hampton’s long career included roles as sideman, bandleader, and cultural force that extended beyond the jazz world. Beginning as a drummer, he switched to vibes at the suggestion of Louis Armstrong, and then broke the colour barrier as a member of Benny Goodman’s legendary big band. Hampton’s own groups melded swing with ...
(Vocal duo, 1993–present) This Cambridge, Massachusetts-based duo embrace vintage music styles with absolute authenticity. Brooklyn-born Rishell (b. 1950, vocals, guitar) discovered traditional blues in the 1960s and played with Son House and Johnny Shines. He began leading bands and performing solo in 1975, releasing his debut Blues On Holiday in 1990. He then met Raines (b. ...
(Vocals, 1898–1986) Beaulah Thomas was raised in Houston, Texas. From an early age she sang in church and worked with her pianist brother Hersal Thomas. She moved to Chicago in 1923 and recorded for OKeh, creating blues standards such as ‘Up The Country Blues’ and ‘I’m A Mighty Tight Woman’. She moved to Detroit in 1929 and joined ...
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 ...
The period between the late-1940s and the mid-1960s is described as the Golden Age of gospel music. During this time, attention was focused mainly, but not exclusively, on the quartets that crisscrossed America on what was known as the Gospel Highway, filling the role of pop stars for the black religious community of the times. These aggregations ...
In the later years of the nineteenth century, the world of black religion was in ferment. Breakaway sects began to found their own churches and followed the drift of black people from the country to the cities, resulting in the mass migrations from Southern oppression to a newer, but not always easier life in the industrialized cities of ...
Jazz and blues are rooted in the enormous technological and social transformations affecting the USA and Western Europe at the turn of the twentieth century. The most striking changes were the advent of easier and cheaper travel; better communications; electric lighting; improvements in audio recording and moving pictures; increased urbanization; and the rise of the US, concurrent with the fall ...
Rock’n’roll did not spring fully formed from Memphis in the shape of Elvis Presley but was the coming together of several different roots musics. Country, jazz, doo-wop and the blues had all enjoyed significant audiences in their own right, and all would have a bearing on the sounds to come. The music scenes across America had been local ...
By definition, a contemporary era defies summary. No one living in it has the conclusive perspective to discern the prevailing character of our times, even though we all know what we’re going through, and can hear what we hear. The reductive view is: Americans, after a burst stock-market bubble and terrorist attacks, live in uncertainty, ...
Few would deny that the blues has played a more important role in the history of popular culture than any other musical genre. As well as being a complete art form in itself, it is a direct ancestor to the different types of current popular music we know and love today. Without the blues there would have been no Beatles ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1939–91) Stating his intent with 1961’s million-selling – and self-penned – ‘Runaway’, this square-jawed hunk from Michigan continued an exploration of small town soul-torture with the likes of ‘Hats Off To Larry’, ‘Little Town Flirt’ and ‘Stranger In Town’. Other chartbusters included ‘The Swiss Maid’, ‘From Me To You’ – the first Beatles composition to penetrate the ...
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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.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.