Jack Coles

Jack Coles was born in London and began music at an early age. After studying the trumpet at the Royal Military School of Music from 1933 to 1934 and winning the "Gold Cup" for best all-round pupil, Coles played with leading British dance bands until the outbreak of war in 1939, when he enlisted in the King's Royal Rifle Corps.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mastersofmelody.co.uk/jackcoles.htm|title=Jack Coles and his Orchestre Moderne|website=mastersofmelody.co.uk|access-date=11 December 2018}}

After his time in the Rifle Corps, Coles enrolled in the British Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (AEF), where he played trumpet and arranged for its conductor, George Melachrino. In 1946, Coles started broadcasting for the BBC Radio with the 'Music Masters', a short-lived ten-piece dance band. He went on to form, at the request of the BBC, a larger, 22-piece light orchestra named 'Jack Coles and his Orchestre Moderne' which lasted over a decade. This orchestra did over 200 broadcasts for BBC Radio, appearing in light orchestral programs such as 'Melody Hour', 'Morning Music' and, 'Music While You Work'.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/GL5226.pdf|title=The Golden Age of Light Music|last=Ades|first=David|date=2015|website=chandos.net|access-date=27 December 2018}} In 1958, Coles was invited to the BBC Festival of Light Music at the Royal Festival Hall in London. By this time, he was guest-conducting for various BBC Regional Light Orchestras and touring Holland with the BBC Studio Choir.The Gramophone Company Ltd. [https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-TW&u=https://hk.auctions.yahoo.com/item/LP-%25E9%25BB%2591%25E8%2586%25A0%25E5%2594%25B1%25E7%2589%2587-Jack-Coles-The-Music-Of-Jack-Coles-And-100491815583&prev=search "The Music of Jack Coles."] Yahoo! Auctions, Yahoo Hong Kong, www.hk.auctions.yahoo.com. Auctioned by user 'touchingmusic.' Album printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse in 1966. Retrieved 28 December 2018 One of these regional orchestras, the BBC Midland Light Orchestra (MLO), had been without a permanent conductor since early 1959. In August of the following year, the BBC appointed Coles as the principal conductor of the MLO, a post he held until 1972.{{Cite web|url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/garlands/98.htm|title=A 98th GARLAND OF BRITISH LIGHT MUSIC COMPOSERS|website=musicweb-international.com|access-date=26 December 2018}}

Throughout the 20th century, Coles composed and arranged light orchestral music for radio, television, film and stage productions. He evolved a distinctly modern rhythmic style and composed both contemporary light music and popular standards of the time. His arrangements incorporated more and more jazz as time went on, which contrasted the traditional style of light music conducted by Gilbert Vinter (a co-conductor of the Midland Light Orchestra until 1969).{{CSS image crop

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Coles' musical taste ranged from swing to operatic and symphonic works.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p04qz8t9|title=BBC Midland Light Orchestra|last=Leader|first=Howard|date=27 January 2017|website=bbc.co.uk|language=en-GB|access-date=11 December 2018}}

Coles' best known composition, "Tyrolean Tango", written under the pen-name of Paul Stewart, was recorded in England by George Melachrino and in the United States by Duke Ellington, re-titled "The Echo Tango".{{Cite web|url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/library/arts/011799ellington-tucker.html|title=Ellington Centennial: Recalling Shift in Popular Tastes|website=movies2.nytimes.com|access-date=11 December 2018}}

His other numerous compositions include:

• Fan Tan, The Girl From Cadiz, Parakeets and Peacocks, Positano, Procida, Sparky, Cowbell Polka and Joy Ride
• A Day at the Zoo, Dance of the Dragonflies, Casbah, Puppet March, Seaside Special and Riverboat Serenade
• Mexican Serenade, Dude Ranch, Dance of the Pan-pipes and Celebration Waltz{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NTIhAQAAIAAJ&q=mexican+serenade+jack+coles&pg=PA1321|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series|date=1958|language=en}}
• Gentle Persuasion, The Nightrider and Elegy

In 1972, Coles retired to Positano, Italy. However, he returned to London around ten years later and conducted in two editions of a revived series of 'Music While You Work' for BBC Radio.{{Cite news|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/6348705787784eb18ed71e0b71fc7080|title=Jack Coles in MELODY HOUR|date=25 September 1959|work=The Radio Times|access-date=11 December 2018|issue=1872|pages=25|language=en-GB|issn=0033-8060}} Coles died on 24 April 1991, four days before his 77th birthday.

Coles' musicianship, program-building and conducting ability were held in high regard by the BBC and earned him a favorable reputation. Coles was also known for his generosity, as he often aided struggling musicians financially.

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Category:British light music composers

Category:20th-century British conductors (music)

Category:Jazz arrangers

Category:British trumpeters

Category:1914 births

Category:1991 deaths

Category:20th-century British jazz composers

Category:British Army personnel of World War II

Category:King's Royal Rifle Corps soldiers