Earl Coleman (August 12, 1925 – July 12, 1995) was a jazz singer.
Coleman was born in Port Huron, Michigan.
As a child, he lived with his mother, grandmother, aunt, and step-grandfather.
After moving to Indianapolis in 1939, he sang with
Ernie Fields
Ernest Lawrence Fields (August 28, 1904 – May 11, 1997)Laprarie, Michael Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' (accessed May 14, 2010). was an American trombonist, pianist, arranger and bandleader. He first became known for leading ...
and
Bardu Ali
Bardu Ali (September 23, 1906 – October 29, 1981) was an American jazz and R&B singer, guitarist, and promoter.
Biography
It has been reported that Ali was born September 23, 1910 or 1906, in Mississippi. His sister and older brothers bo ...
. He joined the
Jay McShann
James Columbus "Jay" McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006) was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader. He led bands in Kansas City, Missouri, that included Charlie Parker, Bernard Anderson, Walter Brown, and ...
band in 1943 and later sang with
Earl Hines, the
Billy Eckstine
William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously ...
Orchestra, and
King Kolax. He then went with McShann to California and recorded with
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
,
Fats Navarro
Theodore "Fats" Navarro (September 24, 1923 – July 6, 1950) was an American jazz trumpet player. He was a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. He had a strong stylistic influence on many other players, including ...
, and
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...
in 1948. In 1954, he worked with
Gene Ammons
Eugene "Jug" Ammons (April 14, 1925 – August 6, 1974), also known as "The Boss", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. The son of boogie