Tony Coe (1934-2023)… Alyn's obit in Jazzwise

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

http://www.jazzwise.com/news/article/tony-coe-29-november-1934-16-march-2023#.ZBSoAKQmvL8.twitter

Tony Coe: 29 November 1934 – 16 March 2023
Alyn Shipton
FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2023
Alyn Shipton remembers the internationally renowned British virtuoso multi-reedist who has died aged 88.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Tony Coe , Monk's "Light Blue" from Canterbury Song...

http://youtu.be/Y0ob9pbZPhE

[RichardB]

And not to be forgotten, Time, a duo album with Derek Bailey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFU9T0v5szs

[Jazzrook]

Alyn's 'Jazz Library' with Tony Coe:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t1xn9

JR

[Serial_Apologist]

Up there with Kenny Wheeler as one of the truly great, and in Tony's case shamefully under-recognised musicians that British jazz has had to offer, in my opinion.

With his own quartet with Pat Smythe (q.v. Joe Harriott Free Form) Daryl Runswick and Bryan Spring, with a pre-famed Allan Holdsworth guesting, from a Jazz in Britain b/cast from 1974 - quite a rarity.

All four tracks from the session are accessible on different links - I've chosen just the feature ballad and "New Dawn" for Tony's non-pareil flexibility with time and pitch range and sheer beauty of playing. Daryl Runswick takes a remarkable bass solo (acoustic, not electric as stated) on "New Dawn".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOUXr9Spk9M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R6eGv1DVUY

A reminder of the quality jazz in Britain of the time that was not only free improv and fusion!

[Serial_Apologist]

Alyn's 'Jazz Library' with Tony Coe:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t1xn9

JR

Thanks JR - lovely to have that as a download.

[Jazzrook]

The elusive 2-LP set 'Coe, Oxley & Co - Nutty On Willisau'(hatArt) is in urgent need of a reissue on CD.
Hopefully, this great trio of Tony Coe, Tony Oxley & Chris Laurence will feature in any tribute programme.
Can't find anything from this 1983 live album on YouTube.

JR

[Serial_Apologist]

The elusive 2-LP set 'Coe, Oxley & Co - Nutty On Willisau'(hatArt) is in urgent need of a reissue on CD.
Hopefully, this great trio of Tony Coe, Tony Oxley & Chris Laurence will feature in any tribute programme.
Can't find anything from this 1983 live album on YouTube.

JR

I did once have a link to it, but sadly now lost it seems. I first heard the Body & Soul track on a JRR back in the early 80s, and luckily managed to tape that one track. For me it's one of those "what could you possible listen to after hearing this?" choices to put on at the end of an enjoyable at-home dinner date when visitors are about to leave and you want to send them home feeling it was worth coming for after all!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"Hopefully, this great trio of Tony Coe, Tony Oxley & Chris Laurence will feature in any tribute programme."

I saw this trio as a quartet fronted by Stan Tracey on an Arts Council tour in Swindon c.1985/6. Memorable for the "freeish" music especially, but also for the smallish audience some of whom expected something more "traditional". Groans of "when are they going to play some proper jazz then?" Loud crash on the piano from Mr Tracey.

[Ian Thumwood]

I was sad to hear of the passing of Tony Coe, a musician I really admired. I think that he was eaily one of the bestjazz reeds players this country has produced and was someone who was genuinely "World Class." I don't think anyone who was aware of his music was at all surprised when he picked up the Jazzpar prize back in the 1990s. In my opinion, there have been few other saxophonists in the country who has reached the standard of playing he achieved and this was across a wide range of styles and musics.

It was intriguing to read this Q&A interview in Jazz Journal where he was asked to give his opinion on numerous records he was asked to listen to, especially in light of the records cited in this thread as being popular:-

https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2023/03/20/tony-coe-the-first-prerequisite-is-that-it-should-be-honest/

There is plenty in this interview to debate and I have to admit that I was really surprised by his comments rgearding the music he liked and disliked. The criticism of Eric Dolphy is probably the biggest surprise here after his enthusiasm for British Dance Bands. It did make me wonder how serious he was in his replies even though there are some pertinent observations about Free Improvisation which I feel is fair criticism and not inaccurate. . The comments about Jan Garbarek seem on the money to m and are consistent with the theme the seems to be underscoring the interview which appertains to the integrity of different types of music.

I have encountered several instances of musicians I had deemed to be "progressive" yet who held really conservative tastes in the music they listened to. The most surprising instance for me was members of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra discussing their enthusiasm for Barbara Streisand with whom a number of them had worked during a "working lunch" on a jazz workshop at Vienne.

[RichardB]

there are some pertinent observations about Free Improvisation which I feel is fair criticism and not inaccurate

I have to say I think his comments on free improvisation are so wide of the mark that I would never have thought an intelligent and sensitive musician like Tony could say such nonsensical things. And as for not recognising the Beatles or remembering whether he played on that particular song... maybe the interview came after a long evening at the pub. I did have some contact with Tony many years ago when I was working as a copyist for Bob Cornford whom some here might remember, a highly talented jazz pianist, compose and conductor I learned an enormous amount from, who died in his early 40s in 1982. Anyway, I always found Tony friendly and encouraging.

[Tenor Freak]

Condolences to Gideon Coe and the family.

I remember that version of "Body and Soul" from Willisau very well as I recorded that edition of Jazz Today. Some highlights of his playing for me are the trio LP he did with Norma Winstone and John Taylor, Somewhere Called Home, which closes with probably the bleakest version of "Tea For Two" ever - and a great tenor solo from Mr. Coe. I would also point out his epic tenor solo on "Don No More" from Windmill Tilter. What an entrance that is. I will have to check out his LP Canterbury Songs.

As for his soprano work I was struck by a comment he made in an interview on the radio about it; he was dismissive of the pervasive harsh tone that many sop players adopted, and stated that his sound concept on it was that it should sound more like a cor anglais. If I ever get a soprano sax I'd like to play like that. RIP.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I really liked that Jazz Journal interview. You don't have to agree with him on all points but he came over as very honest - the quality he looked for in music & musicians, and certainly not someone speaking after a few too many in the pub.

Thanks for posting it.

[RichardB]

certainly not someone speaking after a few too many in the pub.

You're probably right. Looking at it again, I think the problem is that his experience of free improvisation was probably quite limited, and it's interesting that he should cite Boulez's opinion on it (twice!) because Boulez would have said similar things about jazz. I always thought that because Tony was a jazz musician who respected what was happening in contemporary composition he would be open to more things than was actually the case, as in his 1976 album Zeitgeist which attempted to bring together very many of the ideas that were floating around at that time. Mind you I never liked that album very much. I felt it could have been a first step towards something really distinctive and original, but he never followed it up.

[Ian Thumwood]

I really liked that Jazz Journal interview. You don't have to agree with him on all points but he came over as very honest - the quality he looked for in music & musicians, and certainly not someone speaking after a few too many in the pub.

Thanks for posting it.

Bluesnik

I was staggered by the interview as well and concur that the honesty of the responses was refreshing. It is really fascinating to compare the responses given int his issue with some of the nonsense spouted in the Ezra Collective one that SA posted. It struck me that Tony Coe's comments were more about how the music is put together and which musicians are sincere. He was judging things on a more practical set of criteria. I have to say that I totally get the comments about big bands (except the British dance bands which rarely played jazz) and the criticisms about Sheppard and Garbarek were very insightful. The comments about Free improvisation struck me as being made by someone who had tried this and found the experience unrewarding . The criticisms about the use of harmony seem salient in my opinion yet I think the draw with Improvised Music is that it wears it's heart on it's sleeve. It can be dreadful but you call also have Eureka moments. The risks are far greater than with plying jazz and you could argue that that the rewards might be greater. The problem is that it is really difficult to put criteria on what is deemed "successful" when the boundaries are always being challenged. There is nothing worse than "bad avant garde" and having dipped his toe in the water, it was clear to me that Tony Coe had the experience to register those elements with which he seemed particularly dissatisfied.

The one element that shocked me was his opinion of Eric Dolphy which was dismissed for his inability to play the "correct" notes and the fact that he was playing for effect. In my opinion, Dolphy is probably only rivalled by Coltrane, Shorter and Henderson as a jazz saxophonist in the 1960s. His music is essential. I have to admit that I wish this interview had been longer and that Tony Coe had elaborated on those "icons" whose reputations he felt to be over-rated and why he held this view. For all the enthusiasm on this board for Coe's more adventurous output, it seems clear that these were not the works of his that he valued. What I admired was that he was not afraid to praise music which has long since been out of fashion and that he was judging the alleged shortfalls of others on musical terms. There has been an interview on line with week with Keith Jarrett whose own opinion of Garbarek is far more favourable but this was in a more solid jazz context. In addition, there cannot be many on here not nodding their head regarding modal jazz/ Jamey Abersold -style improvising. Chromatic improvisation is demonstrably more colourful and more interesting. I would also argue more progressive. Not everyone playing modal jazz was a Coltrane.

It is fascinating to read musician's opinions like this when they are not bland responses. I find the curious aspect of the Tony Coe interview was that he was not looking at music being "advanced" for the sake of it so that music was praised on the basis of where it sat on a notional musical evolutionary tree. this last week I have been listening a lot to both Syzmanowksi piano works and the broader music of Georges Enescu. In both instances, they were not necessarily at the cutting edge of music at their time yet, with the passage of 100 years, it no longer matters. For me, both were giants of classical composition just as Ben Webster was a master-craftsman of his art. I strongly believe that music does not have to be atonal to be "advanced" and if you have tried an ouevre and found it to be unrewarding, I think you are better placed to make a judgement upon it - especially if your perception is negative. I wish more interviews were this idiosyncratic!