Warren Haynes was born in Asheville, North Carolina in 1960. He began to play the guitar at age 12. Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Johnny Winter were early influences. ‘I would read interviews with all these people and find out who they listened to,’ Haynes has said. ‘And they all listened to B.B. King and Freddie King ...
(Drums, 1898–1959) The grandfather of jazz drumming, Baby Dodds played in Fate Marable’s riverboat band from 1918–21 before joining King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band and relocating to Chicago. He remained there for the rest of his career, collaborating with Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers and Armstrong’s Hot Seven, as well as trombonists Kid Ory and Miff ...
(Drums, b. 1925) Roy Haynes is a major jazz drummer in settings ranging from swing to jazz rock, taking in most genres of the music including free jazz. He spent three years with Charlie Parker (1949–52) and five with Sarah Vaughan (1953–58), and by the mid-1960s had also worked with Bud Powell, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1933–80) Smith was born near Yazoo City, Mississippi and recorded rockabilly for Sun. The likes of ‘Ubangi Stomp’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Ruby’ are now perceived as classics but only the more restrained ‘So Long I’m Gone’ made the national charts. He moved to California and cut a string of country hits for Liberty in 1960–64 ...
1911–60, American Possessing a voice of exceptional ability, Warren was one of America’s greatest opera stars. His voice eclipsed his contemporaries; he was the only dramatic baritone able to sing an open high C. Among his best performances were those in Verdi’s Il trovatore, Rigoletto, La traviata, Un ballo in maschera and Macbeth. He collapsed onstage ...
Derek Trucks was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1979. Trucks bought his first guitar at a yard sale for $5 at age nine and became a child prodigy, playing his first paid performance at age 11. Trucks began playing the guitar using a ‘slide’ bar because it allowed him to play the guitar with his small hands. By his ...
Pigeonholed as the ‘quiet one’, misunderstood as an adopter of Eastern religion and music, and overshadowed (sometimes maligned) by his prolific, trail-blazing bandmates Lennon and McCartney, George Harrison (1943–2001) might have become a footnote in musical history. But as a member of The Beatles, Harrison made the words ‘lead guitar’ a household term and steadily developed as ...
Few groups made as powerful an impression on American blues music in the early 1970s as The Allman Brothers Band. Its blend of blues, jazz, rock and country elements was a predominant sound on nascent FM radio and influenced countless bands that followed in their wake. The Allman Brothers Band have endured tragedies, periods of obscurity and personnel ...
The legend of Sun Records seems to expand and shine brighter with every passing year, as successive generations discover the almost unbelievable array of musical gems that were created at that modest little studio at 706 Union Avenue, Memphis. Sun was the brainchild of one man and it is no exaggeration to say that without his contribution, not ...
(Tenor saxophone, vocals, 1934–96) Eddie Harris was one of the few jazz musicians to achieve the distinction of a million-selling hit single with his version of the theme from the film Exodus (1960). A funky, hard-blowing saxophonist from Chicago, he pioneered the use of electronics with tenor saxophone through the Varitone signal processor and similar devices from ...
Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born on 17 October 1972 in Detroit, Michigan. The exact details of his upbringing there and in nearby Warren are unknown, suffice to say he was raised solely by his mother Debbie, and the upbringing, reputedly poverty-stricken, provided ample subject matter for much of the rapper’s lyrical material. 8 Mile And ...
Lester Flatt (1914–79) was relieved when Dave ‘Stringbean’ Akeman left Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in 1945, for Flatt felt the group was better off without a banjo, which had been hindering their efforts to play faster and cleaner than anyone had before. But Monroe agreed to audition a 21-year-old banjoist from western North Carolina, and Earl Scruggs ...
(Vibraphone, b. 1943) Gary Burton is one of the most impressive vibists in jazz, at times using four mallets in order to harmonize with himself. He began his career in country music with guitarist Hank Garland, played jazz with George Shearing and Stan Getz, and then helped to instigate the jazz-rock fusion movement through his group with ...
(Vocals, guitar, songwriter, b. 1936) Jack Scafone was born in Windsor, Ontario. He wrote most of his own material and all his recordings are highly distinctive, owing to his bluesy, baritone voice and, in many cases, the vocal harmonies of The Chantones. A shy man, he should have become a major country ...
(Clarinet, 1892–1940) The premier New Orleans clarinetist of the 1920s, Dodds played in Kid Ory’s band from 1912–19 and then alongside Louis Armstrong and his own brother, Warren ‘Baby’ Dodds, in Fate Marable’s riverboat band. Dodds left New Orleans in January 1921 to join King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in Chicago, taking part in that influential ...
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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.