Jerry Coker (born November 28, 1932) is 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 m ...

saxophonist and pedagogue. Coker was born in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

. He attended

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

in the early 1950s, but left school to become a member of

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...

's Herd. Coker eventually earned undergraduate and graduate degrees while he taught jazz at Sam Houston State University (then Sam Houston State Teachers College). He recorded under his own name in the mid-1950s and as a sideman with

Nat Pierce Nathaniel Pierce Blish Jr., known professionally as Nat Pierce (July 16, 1925 – June 10, 1992) was an American jazz pianist and prolific composer and arranger, perhaps best known for being pianist and arranger for the Woody Herman band from 195 ...

, Dick Collins, and

Mel Lewis Melvin Sokoloff (May 10, 1929 – February 2, 1990), known professionally as Mel Lewis, was an American jazz drummer, session musician, professor, and author. He received fourteen Grammy Award nominations. Biography Early years Lewis was ...

; later that decade he played with

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...

. In 1960 he began teaching and increasingly turned to music education and composition. He taught at Duke University,

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

North Texas State University The University of North Texas (UNT) is a Public university, public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private Normal school, teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 y ...

, and started the Studio Music and Jazz program at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

, where he was a professor of music from the 1980s through the 2000s."Jerry Coker". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld.

Discography

*''Modern Music from Indiana University'' (

Fantasy Records Fantasy Records is an American independent record label company founded by brothers Max and Sol Stanley Weiss in 1949. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who was also one of its invest ...

, 1956) *''Intro to Jazz'', with the Rudy Salvini Big Band ( Jazz Records, 1957) *''Extension'', with the

Clare Fischer Douglas Clare Fischer (October 22, 1928 – January 26, 2012) was an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. After graduating from Michigan State University (from which, five decades later, he would receive an honorary doctorat ...

Orchestra (

Discovery Records Discovery Records was a United States-based record company and label known for its recordings of jazz music. Discovery was founded in 1948 by jazz fan and promoter Albert Marx. The record label eventually would record jazz notables such as Dizzy G ...

, 1984) *''...A Re-Emergence'', with the Frank Sullivan Trio (

Revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...

, 1984) *''Rebirth'' (

, 1987)

Bibliography

*''Improvising Jazz'' (1964/ rev. ed. 1986) *''Patterns for Jazz'' (c1970) *''The Jazz Idiom'' (1975) *''Listening to Jazz'' (c1978; rev. as How to Listen to Jazz, n.p., n.d.) *''The Complete Method for Improvisation'' (c1980) *''Jerry Coker’s Jazz Keyboard'' (c1984) *''The Teaching of Jazz'' (1989) *''How to Practice Jazz'' (c1990) *''Elements of the Jazz Language for the Developing Improviser'' (1991) *''The Jazz Age In America'' (2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coker, Jerry American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists American jazz composers Musicians from Indiana American male jazz composers