Tony Coe obit

 

RIP Tony Coe (1934-2023)

He was not on the list.

Sad news. One of the understated greats of British jazz, saxophonist and clarinettist Tony Coe, passed away peacefully yesterday at the age of 88.

The following tribute from Tim Garland’s Facebook page is re-published with his permission:

“Here is to my very first teacher, who lived round the corner from me when I swapped clarinet for the saxophone, down in Canterbury. I remember being in a wine bar age 14 (!) playing the clarinet very badly, and he walked in. I was SO embarrassed to be playing in front of him but his odd-ball friendliness put me at ease. He had a singular approach to improv, eccentric, sophisticated and un-conformist! The first year I worked with Chick he pointed out that the wide intervals and altissimo register I used sounded a little like Paul Gonsalves, Ellington’s iconic tenor player. I knew though that it was Tony, who spoke in terms of leaping intervals, that had been the abiding influence. I remember listening to Tournee Du Chat ( from the 1980’s?) and realising just HOW different, and separating, my musical interest was to the kids around me! “Canterbury Song” was so special as that was my home city and reminded me of my embryonic career. Tony was in the trio with Malcolm Creese and John Horler, before that concept morphed into Acoustic Triangle and I took over. I never stopped referring to Tony and I know there will be loads of anecdotes from friends in our jazz community. I looked up to him as a 14 year old lad, amazed at what he could do.

Maybe the best Tony I ever heard was on Norma’s album Somewhere Called Home. The trio with John Taylor on piano – has all three artists accommodating / lifting each other to perfection. Tony, here’s to the nights I would stay up to listen to Jazz Today, and hear a voice I knew I’d never forget. RIP Tony Coe.”

I have a personal memory: he generously wrote and thanked me for one of the very first reviews I wrote for LJN in 2009, a review of a concert with Tina May and Nikki Iles:

“Tony Coe – JazzPar winner in the days when it was Europe’s top jazz prize- is one of the unique voices of world jazz. Coe is quiet, generous. His hand gestures as he handed back responsibility for the melodic line to the ladies… had an eighteenth century Watteau or Claude grace about them. Ellington’s “Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me” , a duet with May, Coe on clarinet scarcely rising from the chalumeau (lower) register, was special. Beauty, grace, etiquette, maybe they’re due for a return….”

This morning I went straight to be reminded his utterly sublime clarinet playing on Egberto Gismonti’s “Café” from the 1987 ECM album ‘Somewhere called Home’ with Norma Winstone and John Taylor. In sadness and massive respect.

Born in Canterbury, Kent, England, 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. 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".

In 1965, Coe was invited to join Count Basie's band (later saying: "I'm glad it didn't come off – I would have lasted about a fortnight") and has since played with the John Dankworth Orchestra, the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, Derek Bailey's free improvisation group Company, Stan Tracey, Michael Gibbs, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bob Brookmeyer, and performed under Pierre Boulez as well as leading a series of groups of his own, including Coe Oxley & Co with drummer Tony Oxley. Another recording with Denis Preston is his "Third Stream masterpiece" Zeitgeist from 1977. He played saxophone on John Martyn's 1973 album, Solid Air and clarinet on Paul McCartney's recording of "I'll Give You a Ring", released in 1982,

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.