'Soul Survivor': Author Profile.

Info on my Latest Biography Release 'Soul Survivor' and Author Profile.

by Stephanie Lynne Thorburn.

'Soul Survivor'.

Dick Heckstall-Smith Biography.

Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith was blessed with the advantage of a restless, didactic edge in his every creative endeavour. His career is a landmark in a number of regards for British jazz and R & B. As a founding protagonist, he takes his place as a truly significant figure in the 1960´s cultural revolution, although he lived and died in the spirit of a working musician. Dick joined Alexis Korner´s Blues Incorporated in 1962, a project that subsequently evolved into The Graham Bond Org, featuring Dick in the esteemed company of Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. Dick Heckstall-Smith was also an integral part of John Mayall´s Bluesbreakers and proved to be a strident creative force in the innovative jazz-rock fusion band Colosseum.

'Soul Survivor: A Vignette Etude of Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith´, offers a penetrating biographical study focussed on some of Dick´s most significant projects during the latter part of his career. Author Stephanie Lynne Thorburn has documented Dick´s solo work with DHSS, Electric Dream and the fruition of his Arts Council jazz suite Celtic Steppes. Passages of special interest to DH-S connoisseurs have been carefully constructed on Mainsqueeze and the reunion of Colosseum. There is notable interview input from the ever insightful Jon Hiseman and lifelong friend and colleague, Cream lyricist Pete Brown regarding Dick´s 2001 WC Handy nominated album ´Blues and Beyond´ which featured Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Paul Jones and Clem Clempson. Dick´s articulate son Arthur also offers some thoughtful

reflections on his father´s vibrant life-force and creative psyche, leaving the reader in no doubt that Dick Heckstall-Smith had the ability to draw out both the musical essence and humanity of those he worked with professionally and interpersonally. The eBook is augmented with a detailed obituary and in-depth author interview with Dick from 2002.

The eBook is now available in pdf under the author’s profile on music educational site, ‘True Fire'-



truefire.com/list.html?store=original_music&viewauthor=4169&...

Pictured above:  Author Stephanie Lynne Thorburn with Dr. David English; fellow author and contributor to Stephanie's text 'Blues Scholars' .

'Soul Survivor' Excerpt: Dick Heckstall-Smith In Perspective.

"Images. The electrification of Chicago blues, as Lennon and McCartney perform Sergeant Pepper´s on acetate. Contemporary mythical tales describe the token economies of Dartford railway station, as the Stones meet over a Howlin´ and Muddy afternoon consummated in an exchange of Chess vinyl. The texts of authors such as Harry Shapiro and connoisseur Chris Welch capture these defining moments in the history of the British musical revolution, from Alexis Korner and the iconography of the Hendrix experience, to the novelties of fresh Cream. In the Shapiro classic ´Waiting For The Man´, his story of drugs and popular music casts our most loved personalities into their respective roles; heroes and archetypes, heroes and heroin, emphasising that too often creativity and genius merge into a backdrop of cultural folk legend and demoniacs. A harsh and valid perspective, yet the origins of the 1960´s cultural movement find their solace in Dick Heckstall-Smith´s text, ´The Safest Place In The World´, a unique and perceptive concept referring to the psyche of working musicians. The appeal of his narrative is in the persuasive message conjured, that of the ability of the artist to lose themselves within the sanctum of music itself.

Dick Heckstall-Smith´s candid narrative guides us through his progress from Cambridge graduate to conscientious objector and jazz/blues saxophone pioneer. The apprenticeship offered to young pretenders by such divergent venues as the Nucleus, The Marquee and The Flamingo are illustrated through his animated experiences. Presented in a matter of fact tone, Dick introduces us to some of the most significant protagonists in his early career and ultimately evokes an animated personal history of contemporary music. Ginger Baker makes an entrance as part of the Café des Artistes scene resulting in some illuminating and marvellous anecdotes of this, "Long legged, short tempered, nine stone of red- rimmed Irish cockney." The story continues on a late night bus as a series of monster crashes pervade a particularly memorable journey home, indicating the loss of Ginger´s drums in the ether of an LT bus route, his characteristic ´fire and brimstone´ awakened. Dick´s memoirs of the Cambridge University May Ball where he first made acquaintance with Jack Bruce are equally unforgettable as the freshly united Graham Bond Org. personnel exorcise their prowess, performing a completely inspired and irreverent rendition of ´Lover Man´ and ´Blue ´n Boogie´. The excitement of witnessing a developing ´R & B´ scene boom has never been more entertainingly described than by Dick's tales of Blues Incorporated and G.B.O alias ´GBH´. Without a doubt, neither the momentum nor fertility of this period has been paralleled by subsequent generations. Utilising these insights offered via Dick's original autobiography, it was a delight to assimilate and research my own unique textual representation of an archetypal career, focussing on my preferred penchants within the artist's repertoire and creative incarnations."

'Soul Survivor: A Vignette Etude of Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith,' is now available for download from the arts section of the music community website ‘True Fire see profile for Stephanie Lynne Thorburn: -

truefire.com/list.html?store=original_music&viewauthor=4169&...


Summer Discounts.

Currently, a diverse selections of other titles are available at summer discount prices on Stephanie Lynne Thorburn’s Amazon author’s page, including the Kindle texts,

‘Incendiary Soul: A Biographical Homage to the Sales Brothers.' Category: Popular Music.

'Blues Scholars': Etudes on the Blues Greats'. Foreword: Dr. David English. Category: Blues.

‘Primordial Essences: Walking with the Archetypes & Angels.' Category: Spirituality & art.

and ‘The Astrosociological Imagination & the Space Renaissance'. Category: Future Sociology.

See Amazon: -

www.amazon.co.uk/Stephanie-Lynne-Thorburn/e/B007Y3OG2Y/ref=ntt_a ..


Author Biography:

Stephanie Lynne Thorburn is freelance writer, artist and Reiki master with an interest in holistic health. She writes features primarily focused on music and nascent areas of social science, including Sociology and Parapsychology. She holds an MA in Sociology: Qualitative Research from Goldsmiths College, London UK and has undertaken a range of vocational diplomas including Graphic Arts (UKCHT) and Parapsychology, with distinctions. She is a lifetime fellow of the Institute for Meridian Psychotherapy and Associated Complementary Therapies, (energy healing.)

Stephanie has freelanced extensively for press, especially Los Angeles Chronicle and PR-Inside.com. She contributes to a selection of official music sites and journals including Blues Matters and Record Collector. She worked in an organisational role on the Executive Committee of the London Screenwriters' Workshop from 2002-2004. Stephanie has a keen interest in sports, including snooker and cricket.

Over time, Stephanie Lynne has authored a series of music related eBooks, notably 'Incendiary Soul', a succinct biography of the Sales Brothers and 'Blues Scholars', a compendium eBook of her features on blues greats including Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker. In 2012, she re-published an updated edition of her biography of archetypal saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith. Her collection of future Sociology postgraduate published works is titled, 'The Astrosociological Imagination'. She edits her own avant-garde webzine 'Nuance'. See: www.stephaniethorburn.webs.com