British jazz mourns a modest great, 88

The saxophonist, clarinettist and composer Tony Coe died quietly this week.

He is remembered for  many things – as co-writer of the Pink Panther theme, for duets with the classical clarinet player Alan Hacker and for a legendary 1987 ECM album Somewhere Called Home.

Obituary here.

Julian Nicholas writes: ‘His clarinet playing is unsurpassed in my view – my classical teachers Nick Bucknall and Alan Hacker and he were all about promoting the Germanic, woodier sound on clarinet, rather than the vibby, reedy French sound. On tenor his Gonsalvian sound belied the sophistication of his Berg/Debussy harmonic palette. He gave me the tenor mouthpiece I used til about 2010 and got me started on soprano. He was a total one-off and I will always remember him for his artistic breadth and generosity, plus his propensity to dig his heels in on certain issues!!!!’