From The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music The author of America's 'alternative' national anthem 'This Land Is Your Land' and many other classic songs of social comment and protest.
US singing group. In 1841 Jesse (1813-1853) became the musical director and manager of a quartet made up of four of his siblings: (Adoniram) Judson (1817-1859), John (1821-1908), Asa (1823-1884), and Abby (1829-1892).
Canadian singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She started her career in the 1960s folk style and later added elements of rock and jazz with sophisticated confessional lyrics.
Jazz trumpeter and singer, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. His melodic inventiveness, expressed with uninhibited tone and range on the trumpet, established the central role of the improvising soloist in jazz.
Jazz trumpeter, born in Alton, Illinois, USA. During 1949–69, he was at the forefront of jazz, developing or advancing several significant and contrasting styles and trends, all of which highlighted his intensely personal sensibilities.
Jazz trumpeter and composer, born in Cheraw, South Carolina, USA. He worked in prominent swing bands (1937–44), including those of Benny Carter and Charlie Barnet.
Billie Holiday is considered one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. Her inimitable phrasing – singing slightly behind the beat – gave her songs an air of wistfulness that was purely instinctive, for she had no training or technical knowledge.
Riley B. King was born on September 16, 1925, in Indianola, Mississippi. His career started when, as a boy of fourteen, he met a preacher who played the guitar.
US band leader, singer, and actor. He was a pioneer of scat singing with his catch phrase ‘Hi-de-ho’, used in his theme song ‘Minnie the Moocher’ (1931).