Jimmy Coe

A fine reed player who worked with many jazz greats, Jimmy Coe has always slipped through the cracks when it came to building a reputation, as if his three-letter surname was too short for anyone to make an impression. Perhaps the problem was not his name, but his location. Except for periods on the road and his service during the second World War, he remained in Indianapolis, the town he was brought up in, for his entire career. One thing that can be said about the Hoosier capital: it was never a recording center. Prior to the early '70s, all of Coe's recordings were tracked elsewhere, usually Chicago. He began playing professionally at 17 and he functioned in fast-moving musical company right from the get-go. At 20, he was already touring with Jay McShann's band, honor enough until the fact that he was replacing Charlie Parker gets added to the picture. It was an assignment no musician would envy, but to make matters worse, Coe has recollected that Parker himself was in the audience and fell asleep while Coe took what was actually his first solo on alto saxophone in front of an audience. Some musicians endure a trial by fire; this was a trial by snoring. His usual band assignment was baritone sax, which he played on the rare broadcast and studio sessions that have been preserved from the McShann period. Of course, the McShann material featuring Parker has accumulated more releases than fingerprints on a motel water faucet. Coe served in the Army from 1943 to 1945, playing with the 415th Band while stationed in New Guinea. He recorded again not too long after his discharge from the Armed Forces, this time for Columbia, with saxophonist and singer Buster Bennett and legendary Chicago bassist Duke Groner. In the late '40s, Coe began the study of clarinet at Butler...