{{distinguish|Jay Blades}} {{Short description|English percussionist (1901–1999)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''James Blades''' OBE (9 September 1901{{spaced ndash}}19 May 1999) was an English percussionist.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-james-blades-1095585.html|title=Obituary: James Blades|date=24 May 1999|author=Graham Melville-Mason|website=The Independent|access-date=17 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite ODNB |last1=Goodwin |first1=Noël |authorlink=Noël Goodwin |title=Blades, James |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/72246 |year=2004 |editor-last=Dickinson |editor-first=Matthew |place=Oxford |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/72246 |access-date=2022-03-15}}</ref>

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.<ref name="skinner">[http://www.pas.org/News/memoriam/blades_IM.cfm Michael Skinner, ''In Memoriam: James Blades OBE'', Percussive Arts Society, 1999]. Retrieved August 8, 2007. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040513170352/http://www.pas.org/News/memoriam/blades_IM.cfm |date=May 13, 2004 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fairchild |first=Frederick D. |title=James Blades |url=https://www.pas.org/about/hall-of-fame/james-blades |access-date=2022-03-15 |website= |publisher=Percussive Arts Society |archive-date=31 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131125744/https://www.pas.org/about/hall-of-fame/james-blades |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Blades was born in Peterborough in 1901.<ref name="ravo">[http://www.mishalov.com/Blades.html Nick Ravo, "James Blades Is Dead at 97; a Percussionist for Victory"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114053233/http://www.mishalov.com/Blades.html |date=14 November 2011 }}, ''The New York Times'' (May 25, 1999). Retrieved August 8, 2007.</ref> He was a long-time associate of Benjamin Britten, with whom he conceived many of the composer's unusual percussion effects.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Britten |first=Benjamin |title=The Operas of Benjamin Britten |publisher=H. Hamilton |others=David Herbert |year=1979 |isbn=0-241-10256-1 |location=London |oclc=6252767}}</ref> In 1954, Blades was appointed Professor of Percussion at the Royal Academy of Music.

As a chamber musician he played with the Melos Ensemble and the English Chamber Orchestra.

Blades' pupils included the rock drummers Max Sedgley, Carl Palmer, and Richard James Burgess as well as percussionist Evelyn Glennie.

His most famous and widely heard performances were the sound of the drum playing "V-for-Victory" in Morse code, the introduction to the BBC broadcasts made to the European Resistance during World War II, 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 interpreted by an actor miming a character called the "Gongman".

His autobiography ''Drum Roll: A Professional Adventure from the Circus to the Concert Hall'' was published by Faber & Faber in 1977.

== Portrayals == A one-man drama-documentary, ''James Blades - Pandemonium of the One-Man Band'', was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in November 2025 as part of the station's Sunday Feature strand. It was written by Robin Brooks and James Anthony-Rose, and recorded with Anthony-Rose playing Blades in front of a live audience at Snape Maltings Concert Hall.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, James Blades - Pandemonium of the One-Man Band |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002mcnk |access-date=2026-01-26 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==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}} *''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}} *''How to Play Drums'' (London: Penguin, 1985) {{ISBN|978-0-241-11670-8}} (with Johnny Dean) *''These I Have Met...'' (London: Music Sales, 1998) {{ISBN|978-0-905210-77-3}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links ==

* [https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,296880,00.html Obituary] from ''The Guardian'' {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blades, James}} Category:1901 births Category:1999 deaths Category:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:20th-century English classical musicians Category:20th-century English drummers Category:British classical percussionists