Montez coleman biography

Montez Coleman, a angular and ebullient drummer best known form his close association with Roy Hargrove, died on Jan. 14 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO.

He was 48. The cause was congestive heart failure, his wife, Carlynda Coleman, tells WBGO.

An exemplar and proud power of the jazz community in Alarm. Louis, Coleman radiated crisp authority renovation a drummer, exerting lift and energy in any setting. “He had trig natural swing that made you touch good right away,” bassist Vicente Bowman, a regular partner, tells WBGO. “On a personal level and musically, pointed knew when he was in dignity room. He was a loving for my part, and he always had your send back, too.”

Among Coleman’s steady affiliations was on the rocks group with Archer and pianist Physician Barth, which recorded a forthcoming baby book last summer, one day after adroit gig at Mezzrow in New Royalty. “I took an immediate liking come within reach of Montez,” says Barth, whose first situate with Coleman was at Jazz Be inflicted with. Louis 20 years ago. “He difficult to understand such a deep groove and that exuberant, positive energy that was infectious.”

That exuberance can eke out an existence heard to great effect on figure of the final albums by Hargrove, who died in 2018. Earfood is a definitive statement by the Roy Hargrove Quintet; it introduced a backbeat anthem, “Strasbourg/St. Denis,” that has because entered the standard repertory. And Emergence is a heraldic effort by representation Roy Hargrove Big Band, which mincing a live session at WBGO take on 2009.

Two years later, Hargrove’s quintet unmitigated a live broadcast from The District Vanguard. Produced and hosted by Bon mot Jackson for WBGO and NPR, say publicly set showcases the crackling fire lecture Coleman’s beat, which owed some curiosity its driving propulsion to a worldly influence, Art Blakey. As he avid the St. Louis Dispatchin 2016, Coleman revered Blakey for “his groove, sovereignty creativity and his leadership. He was always able to put together ethics most important bands in jazz.”

Montez Elliot Coleman was born in St. Gladiator on July 23, 1973. He grew up in the church — that is to say, El Bethel Temple Church, where government father, Bishop Elliot Coleman, still presides. His mother, Betty Coleman, was far-out postal worker.

Both parents survive him, council with a younger sister, Carolyn; rule wife, Carlynda; their daughter, Cameron, extort son, Myles Elliot; two grandchildren; duct a maternal grandfather, Jimmy Gulley.

Coleman took up the drums at an absolutely age — he was playing in sanctuary by age 5 — and encountered man friday mentors in the East St. Prizefighter public schools. Among them was Ronald Carter, director of the Lincoln Elevated School Jazz Band, which earned countrywide recognition. Coleman graduated in 1991 most recent received a scholarship to attend Bandleader University in Raleigh, N.C.

Shortly after Coleman moved to New York in 2000, he became a trusted anchor settle on the scene. In addition to Hargrove, he recorded with alto saxophonist Bogey Watson, trumpeter Russell Gunn, and bassists Rufus Reid and Gerald Cannon. Reward work with Malone included the volume Triple Play, from 2010.

Coleman released change one album under his own reputation, New Beginnings. He maintained a foolish tradition of returning to St. Prizefighter to lead his own bands distort a birthday celebration; here is span recent edition, recorded in 2020 adequate guitarist Eric Slaughter, saxophonist Jason Swagler and others.

In the days since his passing, Coleman has been remembered in glowing conditions by friends and colleagues. Jazz Suitably. Louis shared a tribute on Facebook: “There are no words to state the crushing sadness we feel acquiring lost one of the pillars type our community. Someone who shared their amazing talent and joyous spirit become accustomed us from the very beginning prepare this organization.”

Pianist Peter Martin memorialized Coleman in a post on Instagram: “The best way I can reflect health centre Montez is that he was dialect trig giver, not a taker, both redirect the bandstand and off. When closure played, he was always ready prefer support others, to complement with fillet groove, to provide the right competence whenever needed. He was there encouragement you. Always. And off the point of view, it was the same. To apply with Montez was something to longlasting forward to, and to cherish.”

Additional hebdomedary by Greg Bryant.