Chris Coles - Saxophonist and Educator
About Chris Coles
Christopher J. Coles is a graduate of Cleveland South High School (2004). In his high school years, Coles studied with renown saxophonist and educator Kenneth LeeGrand. In 2009 Chris received his bachelor’s degree in Saxophone Performance from Youngstown State University. It was here that he studied with world-renowned saxophonist and educator Dr. James C. Umble, jazz saxophonist Dr. Kent Englehardt, and jazz bassist and composer Dr. David Morgan. In 2012, Chris received his master’s degree in Saxophone Performance from the University of Akron.
Chris has performed with many local and international jazz musicians such as, Eddie Baccus Sr., Melvin Burks, Kenny Davis, Glenn Holmes, Bill Ransom, and Cecil Rucker, Grammy Award winner Slide Hampton, Ralph Lalama, Sean Jones, Curtis Taylor, Dominick Farinacci, Maria Schneider (guestconductor for The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra) and Allen Vizzutti. In 2010 Coles was accepted to perform in Italy with the Ohio Youth Jazz Orchestra. It was here that Coles performed with Wessell Anderson, former lead alto saxophonist for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
Chris also played at the North American Saxophone Alliance Regional Festival in West Virginia with the Dana Saxophone quartet, performing at the International Saxophone Symposium in Washington D.C., and premiering a commissioned work by John Hollenbeck at the Whitney Art Museum Composers Workshop. Coles also recorded this work on John Hollenbeck’s album Rainbow Jimmies released in 2009. Some of Chris’s recent accomplishments include being a participant at The Banff Workshop forJazz and Creative music in Alberta, Canada. It was there that Chris had the distinct honor of studying with some of the great pioneers in jazz today such as Vijay Iyer, Mark Turner, Imani Izuri, Tia Fuller, BillyHart, Ingrid Jensen, Zakir Hussain, Somi, Yosvany Terry, and Miles Okazaki to name a few. Coles also recently released his first record as a leader entitled Smoke and Mirrors. In 2017 Chris was an awardee of the Knight Arts Challenge in Akron, Ohio and in 2018 Chris won grants from GAR Foundation, PEGs Foundation as well as the Cleveland Foundation for his multimedia work Nine Lives. This 40-minute work was premiered in 2019 at the Rubber City Jazz and Blues Festival in Akron,Ohio. Recently Coles was invited to the University of Iowa to lecture on the process of making Nine Lives and funding projects through grant writing. Chris is currently based out of Akron, Ohio and is on faculty at Oberlin Conservatory, and The University of Akron. Chris is also a Yamaha Performing Artist.