(Vibraphone, 1923–99) Milt Jackson diverged from his two great predecessors on vibes, Lionel Hampton and Red Norvo, by developing a linear, rhythmically inflected approach rooted in bebop rather than swing. He preferred the slightly larger vibraharp to the more familiar vibraphone, and adjusted the oscillator to give a trademark rich, warm sound. He recorded as ...
(Vocals, banjo, c. 1890–1938) New Orleans-born Charlie Jackson brought a jazzman’s sophistication to an instrument still too often overlooked by blues historians. He alternated single-string solos with percussive chording and dexterous fingerpicking, allowing him to bridge styles and genres with rare facility. He released more than 60 sides of his own, and he also recorded with Freddie ...
(Tenor saxophone, vocals, 1919–89) Benjamin Joseph Jackson was born in Cleveland, Ohio and replaced Wynonie Harris as male vocalist with the Lucky Millinder Orchestra in 1945. From 1947 until the late 1950s he toured with his own group, the Buffalo Bearcats. He recorded for Queen/King from 1945; among his biggest hits were ‘I Love You, Yes ...
(Drums, vocals, 1907–83) Roy Bunny Milton was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma. He had his own bands before moving to Los Angeles in 1935, where he formed the Solid Senders combo in 1938 and worked small clubs throughout the city. He began recording in 1945 and had a lengthy relationship with Specialty records throughout 1946–54, which produced ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1934–2005) Born to sharecroppers in Inverness, Mississippi, the country music Milton Campbell heard in radio broadcasts from the Grand Ole Opry shaped his soulful sound as much as gospel and blues. After regional success, he signed to the Chess Records subsidiary Checker in 1961 and cut the classics ‘If Walls Could Talk’, ‘Feel So ...
There was a time during the western-swing revival of the 1970s when it looked as if the pioneering legacy of Milton Brown (1903–36) And His Musical Brownies would be entirely subsumed amid the accolades given to the music’s most popular, enduring figure, Bob Wills. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, though Wills continues to reign supreme in the popular ...
(Vocals, b. 1937) Born in Maud, Oklahoma, Jackson was discovered by Hank Thompson and first recorded country for Decca in 1954. After appearing on shows with Elvis Presley and a label switch to Capitol, she cut several rockabilly classics. Jackson introduced much-needed glamour to the largely male world of rockabilly, and her rasping vocal style is ...
(Vocals, b. 1937) While still a student at the University of North Carolina, this smooth singer scored a pop hit with ‘A Rose And A Baby Ruth (1956)’. Moving to Nashville, Hamilton had his first country hit in 1963 with the ballad ‘Abilene’, which also did well in the pop charts. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, while ...
(Vocals, b. 1932) Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson (named after the revered Civil War general) was born in Emerson, North Carolina. He grew up in poverty and suffered physical abuse at the hands of a cruel stepfather. After running away from home at 15 and serving a four-year stint in the US Navy, Jackson worked as a sharecropper in Georgia ...
(Vocals, songwriter, guitar, b. 1958) Georgia-born Jackson moved to Nashville in 1985. His rise to fame came after a chance meeting between his wife, Denise, and Glen Campbell, and before long, he was a staff songwriter at Campbell’s music-publishing company. A traditionalist blue-collar act, he was the first signing to Arista’s Nashville branch ...
1916–2011 American composer An enthusiastic exponent of modernism, Babbitt is an influential teacher. In a famous essay, ‘Who cares if you listen ?’, he argued that modern composers should not address the mass concert audience but, like scientists communicating research to their fellows, a specialist, almost private one. Strongly influenced by Schoenberg and Webern, he ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1964–90, 2001, 2012–present) The last great Motown pop group, the brothers Jackson – Jackie, Tito, Marlon, Jermaine and Michael – signed in 1968 and were groomed for a year before their debut single ‘I Want You Back’ shot to US No. 1, followed by four more chart toppers in a row ...
(Vocals, b. 1966) Jackson’s music career started slowly, though she performed with the family firm aged seven. The youngest of The Jacksons of Michael etc. fame, she was also a child actor but it was her third collection Control (1986), which gained her musical recognition. Produced by ace production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – as all ...
(Vocals, b. 1954) Sharp-suited keyboardist and singer Jackson, from Portsmouth, rode the new wave with quirky love songs such as ‘Is She Really Going Out With Him’, and a varied US Top 20 album Look Sharp (1979). He then reverted to his musical background in jazz. With 1981’s Joe Jackson’s Jumpin’ Jive he updated big band swing. More ...
The self-proclaimed ‘King of Pop’, Michael Jackson (1958–2009) was the biggest star of the 1980s following the success of Thriller (1982), which remains the world’s best-selling album with sales of more than 110 million. The King Of Pop The youngest member of The Jackson Five, Jackson signed a solo deal in 1971 with Motown Records, aged 13. Within a ...
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.