James Blades
James "Jimmy" Blades OBE (9 September 1901 – 19 May 1999) was an English percussionist.[1][2][3]
He was one of the most distinguished percussionists in Western music, with a long and varied career. His book Percussion Instruments and their History (1971) is a standard reference work on the subject.[1][2]
Blades was born in Peterborough, England in 1901.[2] He was a long-time associate of Benjamin Britten, with whom he conceived many of the composer's unusual percussion effects.[4] In 1954, Blades was appointed Professor of Percussion at the Royal Academy of Music.[1][2]
As a chamber musician he played with the Melos Ensemble and the English Chamber Orchestra.[1]
Blades' pupils included the rock drummers Carl Palmer and Richard James Burgess as well as the percussionist Evelyn Glennie.[1][2]
His most famous and widely heard performances were the sound of the African drum playing "V-for-Victory" in Morse code, the introduction to the BBC broadcasts made to the European Resistance during World War II,[1][2] and providing the sound of the gong seen at the start of films produced by the Rank Organisation. Blades played this sound on a tam-tam. On screen Blades's sound was mimed to by the "Gongman".
His autobiography Drum Roll: A Professional Adventure from the Circus to the Concert Hall was published by Faber & Faber in 1977.[5]
Bibliography
- Orchestral Percussion Techniques (Oxford: University, 1961) ISBN 978-0-19-318801-3
- Percussion Instruments and their History (London: Faber & Faber, 1971) ISBN 978-0-571-08858-4
- Orchestral Percussion Techniques (Oxford: University, 1973) ISBN 978-0-19-318803-7
- Percussion Instruments and their History (London: Faber & Faber, 1975) ISBN 978-0-571-10360-7
- Percussion Instruments and their History (London: Faber & Faber, 1975) ISBN 978-0-571-04832-8
- Early Percussion Instruments from the Middle Ages to the Baroque (Oxford: University, 1976) ISBN 978-0-19-323176-4 (with Jeremy Montagu)
- Drum Roll: A Professional Adventure from the Circus to the Concert Hall (London: Faber & Faber, 1977) ISBN 978-0-571-10107-8
- Ready to Play (London: BBC, 1978) ISBN 978-0-563-17610-7 (with Carole Ward)
- From Cave to Cavern (London: Sussex, 1982) ISBN 978-1-86013-138-7
- A Check-List of the Percussion Instruments in the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments (Edinburgh: Reid School of Music, 1982) ISBN 978-0-907635-07-9
- Percussion Instruments and their History (London: Faber & Faber, 1984) ISBN 978-0-571-18081-3
- How to Play Drums (London: Penguin, 1985) ISBN 978-0-241-11670-8 (with Johnny Dean)
- Percussion Instruments and their History (London: Pro Am Music Resources, 1992) ISBN 978-0-933224-71-1
- These I Have Met... (London: Music Sales, 1998) ISBN 978-0-905210-77-3
- How to Play Drums (London: St Martins, 1992) ISBN 978-0-312-08212-3 (with Johnny Dean)
- Percussion Instruments and their History (London: Kahn & Averill, 1993) ISBN 978-1-871082-36-4
- Percussion Instruments and their History (London: Kahn & Averill, 2006) ISBN 978-0-933224-61-2
Obituary
- David Corkhill Obituary "James Blades: His skills as a percussionist enthused a generation" The Guardian, 29 May 1999.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Michael Skinner, In Memoriam: James Blades OBE, Percussive Arts Society, 1999. Retrieved August 8, 2007. Link dead as of 4 January 2010.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Nick Ravo, "James Blades Is Dead at 97; a Percussionist for Victory", The New York Times (May 25, 1999). Retrieved August 8, 2007.
- ↑ James Blades biographical notice F.D. Fairchild 1999
- ↑ Graham, p. 46
- ↑ Nielsen BookData ISBN 978-0-571-10107-8
Sources
- Graham, Colin. "Staging first productions 3", from Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- 1901 births
- 1999 deaths
- Academics of the Royal Academy of Music
- Bass drum players
- British classical percussionists
- Classical percussionists
- English classical musicians
- Glockenspiel players
- Gong players
- Snare drummers
- Timpanists
- Triangle players
- Tubular bells players
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- 20th-century classical musicians
- 20th-century English musicians
