Cokie (full name not given)
alto saxophone (Detroit)
Older Detroit alto saxophonist, known in the sources only by this name, whom Barry and the young players of his generation thought almost as good as Charlie Parker.
- mentions
- 1
- recordings
- 1
- Barry speaking
- 1
What Barry says
Explaining what made Detroit special, Barry names players few people have heard of, among them the alto saxophonist Cokie, who to the young musicians was like Bird.
Asked for an overview of the Detroit scene, Barry says the young players learned from good older musicians, and names Cokie first, then Warren Hickey and Billy Mitchell, with Thad Jones and Frank Foster around too.
In the Artists House interview, describing the Detroit scene, Barry calls him their alto player and says they thought he was almost as good as Bird; the old captions spell the name ‘Cookie’ and the newer transcript ‘Koki’.
Interview: Detroit and after2:22
Asked about his mentors, Barry names lesser-known Detroit players who could really play, Cokie and the trumpeter Cleorphus Curtis among them, and says the young players were lucky to have mentors like that.
In his own words
We had Cokie, who was an alto player. To us he was like Bird. We had really good musicians.
We had older musicians who were good musicians. We had Cokie, we had Warren Hickey, we had Billy Mitchell, we had a whole lot of cats who could play.
There was our alto player named Koki, who we felt was just good as Bird almost.
Every mention
1 moments in the recordings, 1 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Interview: Detroit and after
- 2:22
Their Detroit alto player ‘Koki’ (Cokie), thought almost as good as Bird.
In the interviews and notes
Crediting Detroit’s schools and its good local players, Barry names the alto saxophonist Cokie, who to the young musicians was like Charlie Parker.
Barry says the Detroit scene was special because the young learned from good older players, naming Cokie, Warren Hickey and Billy Mitchell.
De Lima transcribes Barry’s Artists House remark that they had an alto player named Cokie whom they felt was almost as good as Bird, among many Detroit musicians who would set the young ones straight.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶624Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶625
Naming his mentors, Barry moves from Burrell and Flanagan to players nobody has heard of, including Cokie and the trumpeter Cleorphus Curtis, who he says could play.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶646Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶1309
De Lima lists Cokie among the Detroit idols who influenced Barry in his early teens, a background he says earlier writing on Barry’s method leaves out.
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.