Tony Coe

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.

Career Born in Canterbury, Kent, England, 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.

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.

Coe recorded on soundtracks for several films, including Superman II, Victor/Victoria, Nous irons tous au paradis, Leaving Las Vegas, Le Plus beau métier du monde and The Loss of Sexual Innocence. He also composed the film score for Camomille.

Coe, who lived in Canterbury, died on 16 March 2023, at the age of 88.

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. 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) With Brian Lemon Trio (77 Records, 1971) Zeitgeist: Based on Poems of Jill Robin (EMI, 1977) Coe-Existence (Lee Lambert, 1978) Time with Derek Bailey (Incus, 1979) Get It Together with Al Grey (Pizza Express, 1979) Tournée Du Chat (nato, 1983) Le Chat Se Retourne (nato, 1984) Mainly Mancini (Chabada, 1985) Alernate Cake (nato, 1985 - two tracks) Joyeux Noël with Norma Winstone (nato, 1987 - one track) Mer De Chine (nato, 1988) Canterbury Song (Hot House, 1989) Bandes originales du journal de Spirou (nato, 1989 - two tracks) Les Voix D'Itxassou (nato, 1990) Les Sources Bleues with Tony Hymas, Chris Laurence (nato, 1991) Les films de ma ville (nato, 1994 - one track) Captain Coe's Famous Racearound with Bob Brookmeyer (Storyville, 1996) Buenaventura Durruti with Tony Hymas, Beñat Achiary, Abel Paz (nato, 1996 - two tracks) In Concert with John Horler, Malcolm Creese (ABCDs, 1997) Jazz Piquant N'oublie Jamais with Tina May (Doz, 1998) Days of Wine and Roses with Alan Barnes (Zephyr, 1998) Street of Dreams with Warren Vaché (Zephyr, 1999) Jumpin with Warren Vaché, Alan Barnes (Zephyr, 1999) Sun, Moon, and Stars with Alan Hacker (Zah Zah, 1999) British-American Blue with Roger Kellaway (Between the Lines, 2000) Dreams with Gerard Presencer, Brian Lemon, Dave Green (Zephyr, 2001) What in the World with Richard Sinclair, David Rees Williams (Sinclair Songs, 2003) More Than You Know with Tina May, Nikki Iles (33 Records, 2004) The Buds of Time, with the Delmé String Quartet (Jazz in Britain, 2025, recorded August 1979 and May 1980)

With the Melody Four (as co-leader with Steve Beresford and Lol Coxhill) Les Millions D'Arlequin / La Paloma (Chabada, 1984) Love Plays Such Funny Games (Chabada, 1984) The Melody Four? Si Señor! (Chabada, 1985) Alernate Cake (nato, 1985 - one track) T.V.? Mais Oui! (Chabada, 1986) Hello! We Must Be Going (Chabada, 1987) Joyeux Noël with Norma Winstone (nato, 1987 - one track) Shopping For Melodies (Chabada, 1988) Les films de ma ville (nato, 1994 - eight tracks)

With the Lonely Bears (as co-leader with Tony Hymas, Hugh Burns and Terry Bozzio) The Lonely Bears (nato, 1991) Injustice (nato, 1992) The Bears are running (nato, 1994)

As sideman With Steve Beresford 1985: Eleven Songs for Doris Day (Chabada) 1987: Kazuko Hohki chante Brigitte Bardot (Chabada) 1988: L'Extraordinaire Jardin De Charles Trenet (Chabada) 1989: Pentimento (Cinenato) 1996: Cue Sheets (Tzadik)

With the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band 1968: Latin Kaleidoscope (MPS) 1968: All Smiles (MPS) 1969: Faces (MPS) 1969: All Blues (MPS) 1969: Fellini 712 (MPS) 1969: More Smiles (MPS) 1969: At Her Majesty's Pleasure 1969: Let's Face the Music and Dance 1969: Live at Ronnie Scott's 1969: Rue Chaptal 1969: Volcano 1971: Off Limits (Polydor) 1971: Change of Scenes with Stan Getz (Verve) 1971: Second Greatest Jazz Big Band in the World (Black Lion) 1973: Big Band Sound of Kenny Clarke & Francy Boland 1975: Open Door (Muse) 1976: November Girl with Carmen McRae (Black Lion) 1976: Live at Ronnie Scotts (MPS) 1988: Meets the Francy Boland Kenny Clark Big Band with Gitte Hænning (veraBra) 1992: Clarke Boland Big Band en Concert avec Europe 1 (Tréma) 1999: Our Kinda Strauss

With Georgie Fame 1966: Sound Venture (Columbia) 1967: The Two Faces of Fame (CBS) 1968: The Third Face of Fame (CBS)

With Tony Hymas 1988: Flying Fortress (nato) 1990: Oyate (nato) 1995: Remake of the American Dream (nato)

With Franz Koglmann 1990: A White Line (hatART) 1991: The Use of Memory (hatART) 1991: L'Heure Bleue (hatART) 1993: Cantos I-IV (hatART) 1995: We Thought About Duke with Lee Konitz (hatART) 1998: Make Believe 1999: An Affair With Strauss (Between the Lines) 2001: Don't Play Just Be (Between the Lines) 2001: O Moon My Pin-Up (hatOLOGY) 2003: Fear Death by Water (Between the Lines) 2005: Let's Make Love (Between the Lines) 2009: Lo-Lee-Ta: Music on Nabokov

With Humphrey Lyttelton 1957: Here's Humph! (Parlophone) 1960: Blues in the Night (Columbia) 1965: Humphrey Lyttelton and His Band 1971: Duke Ellington Classics (Black Lion) 2001: The Humphrey Lyttelton Big Band with Jimmy Rushing 2002: Humph Bruce & Sandy Swing at the BBC: 2003: A Night in Oxford Street 2005: Humph Dedicates (Vocalion) 2013: Live at the Nottingham Jazz Festival 1972 (Calligraph)

With Mike McGear 1972: Woman 1974: McGear (Warner Bros.)

With Norma Winstone 1986: Somewhere Called Home 1998: Manhattan in the Rain

With others 1966: Black Marigolds, Michael Garrick (Argo) 1969: Windmill Tilter: The Story of Don Quixote, John Dankworth/Kenny Wheeler 1971: Mirrors, Benny Bailey (Freedom) 1972: Bootleg Him!, Alexis Korner (Warner) 1973: For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night, Caravan (Deram) 1973: Labyrinth, Nucleus 1973: Nigel Lived, Murray Head 1973: Solid Air, John Martyn 1974: Krysia, Krysia Kocjan 1974: Living on a Back Street, The Spencer Davis Group 1974: Pinball, Brian Protheroe 1974: The Road of Silk, Pete Atkin 1975: Floresta Canto, Phil Woods 1975: Only Chrome-Waterfall Orchestra, Mike Gibbs 1976: Kaleidoscope of Rainbows, Neil Ardley 1976: Terminator, Nick Ingman 1978: A Crazy Steal, The Hollies 1978: Clark After Dark: The Ballad Album, Clark Terry 1979: Harmony of the Spheres, Neil Ardley 1982: Tug of War, Paul McCartney 1983: Visit with the Great Spirit, Bob Moses 1983: Poemas de Federico Garcia Lorca, Violeta Ferrer (nato) 1984: Berlin Djungle, Peter Brötzmann 1984: I'm Alright, Loudon Wainwright III 1984: The Mystery of Man, Sarah Vaughan 1988: Look at me, Terry Day (nato) 1989: For Heaven's Sake, Benny Bailey 1994: Jazz Tete a Tete, Tubby Hayes 1994: R.S.V.P., Richard Sinclair 1994: View from the Edge, Theo Travis 1996: What in the World, Richard Sinclair 1996: Cue Sheets, Steve Beresford (Tzadik) 1998: N'Oublie Jamais, Tina May 1998: Ridin' High: The British Sessions 1960–1971, Cleo Laine 1999: Sun Moon & Stars, Alan Hacker 2000: Where But for Caravan Would I?, Caravan 2001: Easy to Remember, Joe Temperley 2002: At the BBC Vol. 2: More Wireless Days, Chris Barber 2002: In the Evening, Sandy Brown 2002: Labyrinth, Ian Carr/Nucleus 2002: Songs for Sandy, Digby Fairweather 2002: Spectral Soprano, Lol Coxhill 2003: Transformations, James Emery/Klangforum Wien/Emilio Pomárico 2006: Dhammapada, John Mayer 2006: Jazz Icons: Live in '58 & '70, Dizzy Gillespie 2007: Dixie Band Stomp, Joe Daniels 2008: Etudes/Radha Krishna, John Mayer 2008: Harlem Airshaft: The Music of Duke Ellington, Alan Barnes 2015: Crescendo in Duke, Benoit Delbecq (nato) 2015: A Good Time Was Had By All, Danish Radio Big Band