Jimmy Coe (1921 – 2004)
James R. “Jimmy” Coe was an important figure in Indianapolis Jazz music with a career spanning from 1938 to 2002. Flo Garvin, featured in our March 2025 newsletter, performed with his orchestra in the early 1950s and later, Russell Webster (see our September 2025 newsletter) was part of his band. At one time Coe performed in a band with Wes Montgomery and Pookie Johnson that appeared on an early American Bandstand program, and in a big band that backed artists like Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight & the Pips.
Born James R. West in Tompkinsville, Kentucky, he took on the last name Coe when adopted by his stepfather. The family moved to Indianapolis while he was still a toddler. Coe took to music naturally, learning on a small violin and piano. While a sophomore at Crispus Attucks High School, he taught himself the clarinet and started a band, soon switching to saxophone, his primary instrument throughout his long career. He also began composing and arranging music, and by 1938 he was playing professionally at the Cotton Club on Indiana Avenue. Somewhere around this time, he played in a band with Erroll Grandy, a subject of our January 2025 newsletter. He left Indianapolis in 1941 to join a band who needed a saxophonist to replace Charlie Parker, who later became one of the best-known jazz names.
During the World War II years, Coe served in the US Army band that played in the Pacific theater. Returning to Indianapolis after the war, he played in clubs on Indiana Avenue, while studying clarinet at Butler University. From 1950 to 1953, he played at the Cotton Club in Cincinnati, recording on King Records as Jimmy Cole and his Orchestra, trying to cash in on Nat King Cole’s success. The 1950s also found him performing and recording as Jimmie or Jimmy Coe on various labels, in varying venues, and playing early R & B and Rock N’ Roll as well as jazz.
In the ’60s, he played with the house band at the local Pink Poodle Club and began teaching music in the Indianapolis Public Schools. Coe received a lifetime achievement in jazz award from Indiana musicians in 1972, presented to him by Duke Ellington. In 1998, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Indianapolis Jazz Hall of Fame. His last major public performance came during a three-night run in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2002. Coe was given a special tribute during the 2004 convention of the International Association for Jazz Education.
