Gilbert Lloyd "Gil" Coggins (August 23, 1924 – February 15, 2004) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist. Coggins was born to parents of

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

heritage.Gil Coggins
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

His mother was a pianist and had her son start on piano from an early age. He attended school in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

. In

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

, New York City, he attended

The High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High ...

.Randy Weston and Willard Jenkins, "African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston," Durham, N.C., Duke University Press, 2010, 25 In 1946, Coggins met

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

while stationed at

Jefferson Barracks The Jefferson Barracks Military Post is located on the Mississippi River at Lemay, Missouri, south of St. Louis. It was an important and active U.S. Army installation from 1826 through 1946. It is the oldest operating U.S. military installation w ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. After his discharge he began playing piano professionally, working with Davis on several of his

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...

and

Prestige Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.) Prestige may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films * ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett ...

releases. Coggins also recorded with

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a ...

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...

's Jazz Messengers,

Ray Draper Raymond Allen Draper (August 3, 1940, New York City – November 1, 1982) was an American jazz tuba player. Early life and education Draper was born in New York City and attended the Manhattan School of Music in the mid-1950s. Career As a ...

, and

Jackie McLean John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their deat ...

. Coggins gave up playing jazz professionally in 1954 and took up a career in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

, playing music only occasionally. He did not record as a leader until 1990, when Interplay Records released ''Gil's Mood''. He continued performing through the 1990s and 2000s until 2004, when he died from complications sustained in a car crash eight months earlier in

Forest Hills, New York Forest Hills is a mostly residential neighborhood in the central portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is adjacent to Corona to the north, Rego Park and Glendale to the west, Forest Park to the south, Kew Gardens to the southeas ...

. ''Better Late Than Never'', his second album recorded as a leader, was released posthumously.

Discography

*''Gil's Mood'' (Interplay, 1990) *''Better Late Than Never'' (2003)

As sideman

With

*''

Miles Davis Volume 1 ''Miles Davis Volume 1'' refers to two separate but related entities. The title was originally used for the first time in a pair of compilation albums of recordings made by Miles Davis in 1952, 1953 and 1954, released in 1956 (and reissued many ...

'' (

, 1956) *''

Miles Davis Volume 2 ''Miles Davis Volume 2'' is the fifth studio album by musician Miles Davis. It refers to two separate but related entities. The first is a Miles Davis studio album released by Blue Note Records as a 10-inch LP, as BLP 5022 in 1953. The six tra ...

'' (Blue Note, 1956) With

*''

The Ray Draper Quintet featuring John Coltrane ''The Ray Draper Quintet featuring John Coltrane'' is the second album by tuba player Ray Draper recorded in 1957 and released on the New Jazz label. Reception Scott Yanow of AllMusic reviewed the album: "Draper had ambitious dreams of making t ...

'' ( New Jazz, 1957) With

*''

Fat Jazz ''Fat Jazz'', also referred to as ''Jackie McLean Plays Fat Jazz'', is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean, which was recorded in late 1957 and released by the Jubilee label in 1959.Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

, 1959) *''

Makin' the Changes ''Makin' the Changes'' is a studio album by saxophonist Jackie McLean. It was recorded in 1957 for Prestige, but not released until 1960 by the subsidiary label New Jazz as NJ 8231. It features three tracks with McLean in a quartet with pianist ...

'' (New Jazz, 1960) *'' A Long Drink of the Blues'' (New Jazz, 1961) *''

Strange Blues ''Strange Blues'' is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean, recorded in 1957 and released on the Prestige label.

'' (

, 1967)

References

External links

Memorial site
created by Coggins's family
Gil Coggins
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Gil Coggins
at

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growth ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coggins, Gil 1928 births 2004 deaths American jazz pianists American male pianists 20th-century American pianists The High School of Music & Art alumni Jazz musicians from New York (state) 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians