Jerry Coker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1932-11-28)November 28, 1932 South Bend, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | January 14, 2024(2024-01-14) (aged 91) |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, arranger, educator, author |
| Instrument(s) | Tenor saxophone,woodwinds |
| Years active | 1953–2000s |
Jerry Coker (November 28, 1932 – January 14, 2024) was an Americanjazz saxophonist andpedagogue.[1]
Coker was born inSouth Bend, Indiana. He attendedIndiana University in the early 1950s, but interrupted his studies in 1953 whenWoody Herman offered him a job in "The Herd". Coker eventually earned undergraduate and graduate degrees while he taught jazz atSam Houston State University (then Sam Houston State Teachers College). He recorded under his own name in the mid-1950s and as a sideman withNat Pierce,Dick Collins, andMel Lewis; later that decade he played withStan Kenton.
In 1960 Coker began teaching and increasingly turned to music education and composition. He taught atDuke University,University of Miami (where he created one of the first jazz degree programs in the country at theFrost School of Music),[2]North Texas State University, and started the Studio Music and Jazz program at theUniversity of Tennessee, where he was a professor of music from the 1980s through the 2000s.[3] Notable students includeRandy Brecker andPat Metheny.[1] Coker and his colleaguesJamey Aebersold andDavid Baker have been called the "ABCs" of jazz education, and in 1994 Coker was inducted into the Jazz Educators Hall of Fame.[2]
Coker died on January 14, 2024, at the age of 91.[1]
