Alex Coke

{{Infobox musical artist | name = Alex Coke | image = | image_size = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Alexander Seton Coke | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|11|13}} | birth_place = Dallas, Texas, United States | origin = | death_date =  | death_place = | genre = Jazz | occupation = Musician | instrument = Saxophone, flute, woodwinds | years_active = 1976–present | label = | associated_acts = | website = {{URL|alexcoke.home.xs4all.nl}} }} '''Alexander Seton Coke''' (born November 13, 1953, in Dallas, Texas) is a jazz saxophonist and flutist.

==Early life== Coke was born in Dallas on November 13, 1953.<ref name="Grove">{{Cite Grove |last=Kennedy |first=Gary W. |date=2003 |title=Coke, Alex(ander Seton) |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J540400 }}</ref> He started playing the flute at the age of eight.<ref name="Grove" /> He graduated high school in Austin, Texas, and then studied flute at the University of Colorado Boulder.<ref name="Grove" /> He played in local groups while at university and received private lessons from Clifford Jordan and Lew Tabackin.<ref name="Grove" /> In 1977, after graduating, he settled in Austin.<ref name="AC2005">{{cite news |last=Trachtenberg |first=Jay |date=July 22, 2005 |title=Iraqnophobia: Alex Coke Saxes Political |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2005-07-22/280664/ |work=Austin Chronicle |access-date=May 31, 2021}}</ref>

==Later life and career== Coke and his wife, Mary Yznaga, lived in Washington, D.C., in the early 1980s.<ref name="AC2005" /> This was followed by two years in Europe, after which they returned to Austin.<ref name="AC2005" />

Coke toured with the Dutch jazz ensemble the Willem Breuker Kollektief between 1990 and 2000.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Margasak |first=Peter |date=November 2010 |title=Reedist Willem Breuker: An Iconoclastic Cultural Champion |magazine=Down Beat |volume=77 |issue=11 |page=17}}</ref> In the late 1990s, he lived in the Netherlands while maintaining some activities in Austin.<ref name="Grove" /> In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Coke reported on how he was continuing as a musician: "First Presbyterian Church where I have played for over a dozen years has continued to keep my paycheck coming in. I'm teaching online".<ref>{{cite news |last=Hernandez |first=Raoul |date=July 8, 2020 |title=Checking In: Alex Coke Plays Saxophone in His Driveway |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2020-07-08/checking-in-alex-coke-plays-saxophone-in-his-driveway/ |work=Austin Chronicle |access-date=May 31, 2021}}</ref>

==Discography==

===As leader=== * ''New Visions'' (Re Records, 1982) * ''Jumping Shark'' with Willem Breuker (BV Haast, 1991) * ''New Texas Swing'' (CreOp Muse, 2002) * ''Wake Up Dead Man/Iraqnophobia'' (VoxLox, 2005) * ''It's Possible'' (VoxLox, 2008) * ''13'' with Rich Harney (Aardvark Records 2013) * ''Alex Coke, Liminal 1'' (Rock Tumbler Records, 2019)

===As sideman=== '''With Willem Breuker''' * ''Parade'' (BV Haast, 1991) * ''Deze Kant Op, Dames! = This Way Ladies'' (BV Haast, 1993) * ''Overtime/Uberstunden'' (NM Classics, 1994) * ''Sensemaya'' (BV Haast, 1995) * ''Dans Plezier/Joy of Dance'' (BV Haast, 1995) * ''The Parrot'' (BV Haast, 1996) * ''Music for His Films 1967/1994'' with Johan van der Keuken (BV Haast, 1997) * ''Pakkepapen'' (BV Haast, 1998) * ''Psalm 122'' (BV Haast, 1998) * ''Kurt Weill'' (BV Haast, 1998) * ''Thirst!'' with Denise Jannah (BV Haast, 2000) * ''Hunger!'' (BV Haast, 2000) * ''Trilogy: Hunger/Thirst/Misery'' (BV Haast, 2003) * ''At Ruta Maya Cafe'' (BV Haast, 2006) * ''Fidget'' (BV Haast, 2007)

'''With others''' * Dennis Gonzalez, ''Witness'' (Daagnim, 1983) * Austin Klezmorim, ''East of Odessa'' (B.A. Music, 1994) * Austin Klezmorim, ''Bubba's Waltz'' (B.A. Music, 2005) * Eric Vloeimans, Willem Breuker, ''The Compositions of Eric Dolphy'' (BV Haast, 2006) * Voxtrot, ''Voxtrot'' (Playlouderecordings, 2007) * White Denim, ''D'' (Downtown 2011)

Source:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://alexcoke.home.xs4all.nl/AlDiscswithpics.html |title=Discography |publisher=Xs4all.nl |date= |accessdate=May 31, 2021}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{official website|http://www.xs4all.nl/~alexcoke}} * [http://www.allmusic.com/artist/alex-coke-mn0000613505/credits AllMusic credits]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coke, Alex}} Category:American jazz saxophonists Category:American male saxophonists Category:American jazz flautists Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American saxophonists Category:21st-century American male musicians Category:American male jazz musicians Category:21st-century flautists