JERRY WEXLER

Jerry Wexler was a man who knew how to make an impact. As a journalist he is credited with inventing the term ‘R&B’; as joint head of Atlantic Records he helped a lot of Black artists cross into the mainstream; as a shrewd businessman he made a lot of money; as an A&R man his…

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SAM ‘The Man’ TAYLOR

A “certified honking legend”, Sam Taylor was renowned for his superb tone and hard-driving energy. Starting out with the likes of ‘Scat Man’ Crothers and Lucky Millinder, Sam spent six years touring the world with Cab Calloway’s band, then working as a first-call session man for Louis Jordan and Ray Charles. Sam contributed the sax…

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LES PAUL

Les Paul invented the first effective solid bodied electric guitar. The Gibson Corporation rejected ‘The Log’, an electric guitar Les put together after hours in the Epiphone factory where Les worked in 1940, but when Leo Fender put out his ‘Esquire’ ten years later, they called him back! Les designed the guitar that carries his…

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BIG JOE TURNER

When the Blues made the transition from its rural roots in the Delta to the urban boogie-woogie and Jump-blues that made people dance, (and which morphed into Rock’n’Roll), nobody had a bigger voice than Big Joe Turner. A Blues shouter from Kansas City, Big Joe crossed many musical boundaries an the course of a career…

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