Coleman Family Legacy; Another Kind of Soul
George Coleman Sr. was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Largely self taught he learned how to play the alto saxophone when his older brother Lucian Adams brought one home from school. After working with Ray Charles, Coleman started working with B.B. King in 1953, at which point he switched to tenor saxophone. In 1956 George moved to Chicago, along with Booker Little. The bustling jazz scene brought him together with local heavyweights like Gene Ammons, Johnny Griffin, John Gilmore and he joined Walter Perkins’ group, The MJT + 3. When Max Roach heard George with this unit in 1958, he invited him to join his own quartet featuring Kenny Dorham on trumpet 1958–1959.
We follow his career highlighting his time with the legendary Miles Davis from 1963-1964 through the forming of his own quintet, Octet groups in the 70’s, 80’s 90’s right into his current quartet format today.
Miles retained a high opinion of Coleman's playing, stating that 'George played everything almost perfectly...He was a hell of a musician. He played and recorded with Lionel Hampton (1965–1966), Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus, Betty Carter, Chet Baker,
and many others.
Coleman also appeared in the film Freejack (1992), the science-fiction film with Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, and Anthony Hopkins; and 1996’s The Preacher's Wife with Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston.
Inducted into the inaugural class of Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2012 along with many other Memphis greats including his first employer BB King.
In 2015 He became an NEA Jazz Master the highest national honor for a jazz musician in the US.
