Johnny Coles death

Cayetano López Rueda

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Dec 25, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/25/97

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I heard Johnny Coles passed away.
Any information about this?

Cayetano Lopez.
JazzRed. The Spanish jazz magazine on line.
http://www.jazzred.com

Steve Voce

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Dec 26, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/26/97

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In article <34A27F...@redestb.es>, =?iso-8859-1?q?Cayetano_L=F3pez_R
ueda?= <jaz...@redestb.es> writes

Very sad. Johnny was a great player and a very nice man. He'd had cancer
for many months. I recorded an interview with him for theBBC when he was
in the Ellington band(also played with Gil Evans, Ray Charles, Basie,
Quincy Jones and led his own invariably splendid recording sessions).
Was with Mingus in '64, Herbie Hancock (the gig he enjoyed most) in
'68-9 and Blakey '76. In his early days was with Earl Bostic, Eddie
Vinson and Bull Moose Jackson. In the early 80s with Dameronia and
Mingus Dynasty.
--
Steve Voce

Steve Voce

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Dec 27, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/27/97

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In article <eFSrtDAu...@jazmusic.demon.co.uk>, Steve Voce
<St...@jazmusic.demon.co.uk> writes

In message <m0xliMM...@kani.wwa.com>, Paul Baker
<typ...@pbtweb.com> writes
>Steve--
>
>Do you have a transcript of your Coles interview?
>
>We would be interested in putting it online.
>
>-Paul Baker
>Jazz Institute of Chicago
>
>
>----------
I'm sorry Paul, it was taped for radio. He was very emphatic about his
love for Gil Evans's music, telling me that at some points he didn't
understand what Evans was doing. When he asked Gil told him just to play
as he felt and that it would be alright. Gil gave minimal guidance. On
the other hand, I don't think he liked being with Duke. 'I want to PLAY'
he told me. With Duke he was restricted mainly to the section with the
odd feature like the all-purpose chart of How High The Moon. He had
approached mercer Ellington who had told him that he thought Duke was
considering writing something for him. I imagine heheard no more.
Johnny's records under his own name, notably 'Little Johnny C' on Blue
note and a European album with Horace Parlan, are particularly strong,
and show him as a much finer player than he was ever properly credited
for. Being in the shade of Miles, who he adored (as he had previously
loved Eldridge and Gillespie) didn't help.
>>

--
Steve Voce

Keith Hedger

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Dec 28, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/28/97

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I saw Coles in 1979 with the Buddy Rich band....talk about wierd! The
average age in the trumpet section (sans Coles) was probably about 22. He
played some real nice jazz though....

keith

>In article <eFSrtDAu...@jazmusic.demon.co.uk>, Steve Voce
><St...@jazmusic.demon.co.uk> writes

>>Very sad. Johnny was a great player and a very nice man. He'd had cancer
>>for many months. I recorded an interview with him for theBBC when he was
>>in the Ellington band(also played with Gil Evans, Ray Charles, Basie,
>>Quincy Jones and led his own invariably splendid recording sessions).
>>Was with Mingus in '64, Herbie Hancock (the gig he enjoyed most) in
>>'68-9 and Blakey '76. In his early days was with Earl Bostic, Eddie
>>Vinson and Bull Moose Jackson. In the early 80s with Dameronia and
>>Mingus Dynasty.
>In message <m0xliMM...@kani.wwa.com>, Paul Baker
><typ...@pbtweb.com> writes

>Steve Voce

PRProf

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Dec 28, 1997, 3:00:00 AM12/28/97

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The local South Florida papers had nice obits on Coles' death. Actually rather
surprising, given his relative obscurity to the casual listener. What a great
album "Little Johnny Coles" was....

Bill Adams