Anthony George Coe (29 November 1934 – 16 March 2023) was an English
jazz musician who played clarinet,
bass clarinet, and flute as well as soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones.[1]
Career
Born in
Canterbury,
Kent, England,[1] Coe started out on clarinet and was self-taught on tenor saxophone. At just 15 years of age in 1949 he played in his school's (
Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys) trad band and two years later, aged 17, became a full professional with
Joe Daniels. In 1953, aged 18, he joined the army where he played clarinet in the Military band and saxophone with the unit Dance Band. After demob in 1955 he spent some time in France with the Micky Bryan Band (Micky on piano, Gerry Salisbury (valve trombone), Harry Bryan (trumpet),
Lennie Hastings on drums, and Coe on clarinet), before rejoining Joe Daniels. In 1957 Tony's father went to see
Humphrey Lyttelton and, as a result, Tony spent just over four years with Humphrey's band from 1957 to the end of 1961. This was a period when Coe was brought to the attention of critics and fans as well as giving him some degree of international fame.
He left Lyttleton at the end of 1961 to form his own outfit.[2] As leader, his notable albums in this period include 1967's Tony's Basement for
Denis Preston, a combination of jazz players and string quartet which "suits his evenness of tone and highly personal sound perfectly, and which recalls Stan Getz's beautiful Focus".[3]
Coe also worked with the Matrix, a small ensemble formed by clarinettist
Alan Hacker, with a wide-ranging repertoire of early, classical, and contemporary music, the
Danish Radio Big Band, Metropole Orchestra and Skymasters in the Netherlands. He has worked additionally with the
Mike Gibbs big band and the
United Jazz and Rock Ensemble. As leader, a career highlight from 1989 is the Canterbury Song album featuring the American pianist
Horace Parlan.[6]
Coe, who lived in Canterbury, died on 16 March 2023, at the age of 88.[7][8]
Awards and honours
In 1976, a grant from the
Arts Council enabled him to write Zeitgeist - Based On Poems Of Jill Robin, a large-scale orchestral work fusing jazz and rock elements with techniques from classical music which was recorded on EMI records on 29 and 30 July 1976 at
Lansdowne Studios based in Holland Park, London.[9] In 1995 he received an honorary degree and the Danish
Jazzpar Prize.
Discography
As leader
Swingin' Till the Girls Come Home with the Tony Coe Quintet (
Philips, 1962)
Tony's Basement with the Lansdowne String Quartet (
Columbia, 1967)
Sax with Sex (
Metronome, 1968, repackaging of Tony's Basement)
Pop Makes Progress with
Robert Farnon (Chapter One, 1970)