(Flugelhorn, cornet, valve trombone, 1923–86) The middle brother in Detroit’s musical Jones family, Thad Jones joined older sibling Hank at age 16 and, after wartime service, played with younger brother Elvin in Billy Mitchell’s band. He rose to prominence with Count Basie during a nine-year tenure (1954–63), but he became best known for the 13-year ...
Alternative-metal guitarist Adam Jones (b. 1965) was born in Park Ridge, Illinois. He learned violin in elementary school, continuing with the instrument in high school, before playing acoustic bass for three years in an orchestra and later teaching himself guitar by ear. Jones studied art and sculpture in Los Angeles before working in a Hollywood character shop sculpting ...
(Drums, 1911–85) Few players have defined a big band from the drum chair as strongly as Jonathon ‘Jo’ Jones did with Count Basie. When the first Basie records came out in 1937, their rhythm section was both a revelation and a revolution – and brought jazz drumming into a new, more sleek modernity. A master of the steely ...
(Trumpet, vocals, 1909–2000) By the time Jonah Jones came to prominence on New York’s 52nd Street, he had developed a fierce, intense attack that suggested Roy Eldridge without the high notes. He played and recorded with Stuff Smith from 1936–40 and on sessions with Teddy Wilson, Billie Holiday and Lionel Hampton. He worked with Cab Calloway ...
(Trumpet, arranger, b. 1933) Quincy Jones started out as a trumpet player but first achieved public acclaim as an arranger and subsequently went on to earn an even greater reputation as a record producer for artists including Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson. He began arranging with Lionel Hampton in 1951 and toured as music director of Dizzy Gillespie’s big ...
(Drums, 1927–2004) Powerhouse drummer Elvin Jones was the engine of John Coltrane’s legendary quartet in the 1960s, appearing on most of the saxophonist’s most popular recordings. He was the younger brother of pianist Hank and trumpeter Thad Jones and had worked with Bud Powell, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and J.J. Johnson prior to joining Coltrane. A ...
(Vocals, piano, b. 1979) An overnight sensation, Norah Jones’s debut album Come Away With Me (2002) won numerous Grammy Awards and its sales revitalized Blue Note Records. Introduced by her mother to Billie Holiday’s music, Jones won Down Beat Student Music Awards in 1996 and 1997 and studied jazz piano at North Texas State University prior to ...
(Vocals, banjo, 1913–98) Born in Niagara, Kentucky, Louis Marshall Jones was one of the Grand Ole Opry’s most beloved figures for more than 50 years, as well as a popular cast member of Hee Haw, a nationally syndicated country-music television comedy show that aired from 1969 to 1994. Styles & Forms | War Years | ...
Born on 12 September 1931, near Saratoga, Texas, in a remote region of East Texas known as The Big Thicket, George Glenn Jones is widely considered to be country music’s quintessential honky-tonk singer and probably the most influential artist to come along since Hank Williams’ death in 1953. Throughout his 50 years of record-making, Jones has ...
(Vocals, b. 1940) This Welshman’s piledriving but flexible baritone was first heard by the world at large on 1965’s ‘It’s Not Unusual’, a UK No. 1 that also reached the Top 10 in the States. A lean period ended with ‘Green, Green Grass Of Home’ at the top at home and high in the US Hot 100. Further hits ...
(Vocals, b. 1979) Despite being the daughter of superstar Ravi Shankar, Geetali Norah Jones Shankar is more jazz than world musician. Her debut Come Away With Me (2002) fuses elements of folk and soul into the genre, topped off with her sultry vocals, sounding as if they were beamed in from a smoky cellar bar. Her ability ...
If swing in its most characteristic form was a hot and hard-driving music, William ‘Count’ Basie showed that there was a cooler and softer side to the music, an alter ego that even at swift tempos could move with a relaxed, almost serene restraint that subliminally mirrored the streamlined design forms of the Machine Age, in which ...
(Vocals, b. 1950) First heard in the 1970s with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, then in the Broadway musicals The Wiz and Sophisticated Ladies and later in pop/jazz contexts, Bridgewater relocated to Paris in 1983. Leading a trio, she regained career momentum in the 1990s with tribute projects commemorating Billie Holiday, Horace Silver and Ella Fitzgerald ...
(Piano, keyboards, flute, soprano saxophone, percussion, b. 1945) Few artists are as demanding of themselves and their audiences as Allentown, Pennsylvania native Keith Jarrett. A child prodigy, Jarrett first caused a stir while playing in saxophonist Charles Lloyd’s quartet. In 1970, he joined Miles Davis on electric piano and organ. Jarrett soon eschewed ...
(Alto saxophone, b. 1956) Chicago native Coleman worked in funk and R&B bands before switching to jazz and learning under tenor sax great Von Freeman. He moved to New York in 1978 and worked with the Thad Jones–Mel Lewis Orchestra and Sam Rivers. He had a key tenure in the early to mid-1980s with Dave Holland before forming his own ...
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.