(Harmonica, guitar, vocals, 1924–70) Born James Moore in Lobdell, Louisiana, Harpo developed an upbeat style playing juke joints and parties before signing to Excello Records in 1955, where he was instrumental in defining the label’s ‘swamp-blues’ sound. He had a profound influence on 1960s rockers including Van Morrison, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones ...
In his brief, meteoric career, Guitar Slim (1926–59) electrified the blues in more ways than one. While most bluesmen didn’t alter their style as they moved from acoustic to electric guitar in the Forties and Fifties, Slim developed a uniquely electric style, utilizing a 150-ft (46-m) (some say 350-ft/107-m) cable between his guitar and amplifier and creating ...
(Piano, vocals, 1915–88) John Len Chatman was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Influenced by barrelhouse pianists such as Roosevelt Sykes, Slim forged an early career in Memphis playing in cafes, juke joints and other music venues around the Beale Street area. He moved to Chicago in 1937, where he worked with Big Bill Broonzy. He began ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1925–59) Eddie Lee Jones was born in Greenwood, Mississippi. He sang in church as a child but had relocated to New Orleans by the age of 17, where he worked with Huey ‘Piano’ Smith in a small group until 1953. His recording debut was on Imperial in 1951, but his most important recordings were ...
(Piano, vocals, 1906–95) Albert Luandrew was born in Vance, Mississippi. He was self-taught as a pianist and spent the period 1925–39 in Memphis, playing functions and small clubs. He went to Chicago to find work outside music, but instead fell in with the local blues crowd and worked with Tampa Red, Jump Jackson and Muddy ...
(Guitar, b. 1937) Born Morris Holt in Grenada, Mississippi, Slim began playing on Chicago’s West Side in the mid-1960s. In 1976, when Hound Dog Taylor passed away, Slim took over his Sunday afternoon gig at Theresa’s on the South Side. Slim’s band the Teardrops was featured on the 1970 Alligator anthology series Living Chicago Blues. Throughout ...
(Vocals, 1904–96) Carter, the son of a Baptist minister, was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, and in his youth worked as a rodeo performer in Canada’s western provinces, as well as singing on radio shows. Recording for RCA Records for 50 years, Carter was central to the popularity of cowboy music in the 1930s ...
(Vocals, 1927–2003) David Gordon Kirkpatrick, born near Kempsey, New South Wales, was one of Australia’s most popular country artists from the 1950s until his death. He sold in excess of five million records in his home country with hits such as ‘A Pub With No Beer’ (also a Top 3 success in the UK) and ‘Lights On ...
(Vocals, b. 1924) Tampa, Florida-born Otis Dewey Whitman Jr. is best known for his warbling, high-falsetto vocal flourishes on sentimental hits like ‘Indian Love Call’ (1952) and ‘Secret Love’ (1954). Although Whitman enjoyed only limited success in the United States, he achieved considerable fame in Europe, especially the British Isles. During the 1980s, he experienced ...
(Producer, b. 1963) Norman Cook, former bassist with The Housemartins, has since operated under a number of guises with huge success. As Fatboy Slim he managed to combine the engine room of dance with great rock sounds – including The Who – to create some of the greatest anthems of the 1990s. You’ve Come A Long Way, ...
I’m having lunch in a Chelsea restaurant with a sprightly gent of 60-plus. His wits are quick and he’s a fabulous source of softly spoken gossip. He reflects a moment on one especially key evening in his life, early in 1963. ‘If you’re not sure who rock’n’roll belongs to,’ says Andrew Loog Oldham, ‘then it surely isn’t you ...
(Guitar, harmonica, vocals, b. 1942) The son of A&R genius John Hammond, this New York City native left home at the age of 19 to perform professionally. He remains primarily an acoustic player, in the tradition of the classic Delta musicians. Hammond cut a fine series of LPs during 1964–76, encapsulated on 2000’s Best Of ...
New Orleans is widely acknowledged as the birthplace of jazz, but it also produced its own indigenous brand of blues, which borrowed from Texas and Kansas City while also making use of Cajun and Afro-Caribbean rhythm patterns. A mix of croaking and yodeling, floating over the top of the music in an independent time scheme, Professor Longhair’s ...
‘Are you a mod or a rocker ?’ a reporter asked Ringo Starr in A Hard Day’s Night. ‘Uh, no,’ he answered, ‘I’m a mocker.’ The question was a pertinent one. On 18 May 1964, just over three weeks after the film was completed, the English seaside town of Margate saw a violent showdown between ...
Fiddles, generically, are bowed lutes. The term ‘fiddle’ denotes a stringed instrument with a neck, bearing strings that are sounded by the use of friction rather than plucking or striking. Playing the Fiddle In almost all fiddles the world over, friction is provided by a bow strung with rosined horsehair. The hair is tensioned by the springiness ...
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.