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Tom Collier is a multi-instrumental
percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
and
vibraphonist The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vib ...
, with a career in music spanning more than fifty years. He has performed and recorded as a
session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...
with many important jazz, classical, and popular artists. He has also performed and recorded with his own jazz group and has released solo albums. He joined the faculty at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
in 1980.


Childhood

Collier was born in Puyallup, Washington on June 30, 1948 and grew up in
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...
. His parents were professional musicians; Ward Collier, known to his friends as "Whitey", played trumpet in various lounge bands around the Seattle/Tacoma area. His mother, Ethel, often played piano in her husband's quartet. Tom Collier made his first public appearance in
Puyallup, Washington Puyallup ( ) is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. It is on the Puyallup River about southeast of Tacoma and south of Seattle. The city had a population of 42,973 at the 2020 census. The city's name comes from the Puyallu ...
on April 2, 1954 at age 5 on the
xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...
and in the spring of 1957, he appeared on "Top Tunes and New Talent, a nationally televised television show hosted by bandleader Lawrence Welk. His first professional performances were at age 9 as a
marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...
player, and then at age 13 he was a guest artist at the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair with Lawrence Welk in concert at the Seattle Center Coliseum. With the emergence of
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
as the dominant musical force in America, the young Collier was exposed to music that would have a lasting impact on his career. As a teenager growing up in Seattle, he enjoyed the music of
The Wailers (rock band) The Wailers, often known as The Fabulous Wailers, were an American rock music, rock musical ensemble, band from Tacoma, Washington. They became popular in the Pacific Northwest from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, performing saxophone-drive ...
, a
Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...
-based rock band considered by many to be the first
garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...
group. Collier was especially fond of their song "Dirty Robber". At the same time, he was exposed to jazz through his father's recordings of Charlie Parker, Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington and others. At the age of 11, his father took him to see Lionel Hampton in concert. "That was a life-changing experience. I saw him play the vibes with such energy, but I also remember how he jumped on top of a fortified tom tom and danced on it. The crowd went wild." By the time Collier graduated from West Seattle High School in 1966, he was beginning to compose and record pieces rooted in rock and jazz with his longtime friend, guitarist and electric bassist Dan Dean. The two would continue playing music together well into the 21st century.


Education

Collier attended Olympic Jr. College in Bremerton, WA, 1966-1967, studying arranging and music theory with Dr. Ralph Mutchler and playing drums in the Olympic College Stage Band. In May, 1967, he played under the direction of Quincy Jones who was the featured guest artist at the school's annual jazz festival. The following month, Tom was offered a four-year undergraduate Rockefeller Fellowship to study and perform modern avant-garde music at the University of Washington in Seattle. During his four years at the University (1967-1971), he performed several world premiere contemporary classical works with famed clarinetist/composer William O. Smith as well as playing drums in the school's Studio Jazz Ensemble. In 1971, Collier performed with the U.W. Contemporary Group at Town Hall in New York, one of only three students playing alongside professional faculty musicians. He graduated from the University later that spring with two undergraduate degrees: Bachelor of Arts in Music (B.A.) and Bachelor of Music in Percussion (B.M.).


Career

Collier was director of percussion studies at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
from 1980 to 2016. Upon his retirement in 2016, he was named Professor Emeritus by the University's School of Music and College of Arts and Sciences. In 1991, Collier released his instrumental album ''Pacific Aire'', in which he collaborated with
Bud Shank Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and thro ...
on
alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...
and
flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
and
Don Grusin Donald Henri Grusin (born April 22, 1941) is an American jazz keyboardist, composer, and record producer. He is the younger brother of Dave Grusin. Career Don Grusin grew up in Littleton, Colorado. His father, a native of Latvia, was a classica ...
(
Dave Grusin Robert David Grusin (born June 26, 1934) is an American composer, arranger, producer, jazz pianist, and band leader. He has composed many scores for feature films and television and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, incl ...
's brother) on keyboards. Jazz writer
Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...
appreciated the level of musicianship evident in the album, but he criticized the music as "lightweight...as if no one is taking any real chances." He continued that "Collier's eight originals are pleasing if not memorable, and there is no stretching taking place." The year 2004 saw the release of Collier's album ''Mallet Jazz'' on Origin Records, another instrumental showcase in which he was joined by fellow session musicians from throughout his career including percussion hall-of-famer
Emil Richards Emil Richards (born Emilio Joseph Radocchia; September 2, 1932 – December 13, 2019) was an American vibraphonist and percussionist. Biography Musician Richards began playing the xylophone aged six. In High School, he performed with the ...
on marimba,
Joe Porcaro Joseph Thomas Porcaro (April 29, 1930 – July 6, 2020) was an American jazz drummer. Biography Personal life The Porcaro family is, on the paternal side, originally from San Luca, an Aspromonte village in the province of Reggio Calabria. Joe ...
and John Bishop on drums, and Mike Lang and
Don Grusin Donald Henri Grusin (born April 22, 1941) is an American jazz keyboardist, composer, and record producer. He is the younger brother of Dave Grusin. Career Don Grusin grew up in Littleton, Colorado. His father, a native of Latvia, was a classica ...
on piano.
Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...
's longtime
clarinetist The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodw ...
Bill Smith also appeared on the album along with longtime Collier friend and collaborator Dan Dean who played electric bass on all tracks. Critic Adam Greenberg wrote of the album, "The intricate lines devised by Collier show off the abilities of the lead duo ollier and Richards and the solos taken by both Collier and Richards alone make the album worth hearing."All Music Guide On Line, 2005


Discography

* 1979 ''Journey Without Maps'' (with Northwest Jazz Sextet) * 1980 ''Whistling Midgets'' (with Dan Dean) * 1991 ''Pacific Aire'' * 2004 ''Mallet Jazz'' * 2005 ''Duets'' (with Dan Dean) * 2015 ''Across the Bridge'' (with
Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist, widely considered the "godfather of fusion". Alongside Gábor Szabó, he was a pioneer in melding jazz, country and rock ...
,
Bill Frisell William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist. He first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts, notably as a participant ...
, Dan Dean, John Bishop,
Ted Poor Ted may refer to: Names A shortened form of the following: * Edmund * Edward * Thaddeus * Theodore (given name) Art, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Ted, a character in the post-apocalyptic short story '' I Have No Mouth, ...
)


References


External links


Official Website
of Tom Collier
University of Washington School of Music Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, Tom American jazz vibraphonists Musicians from Seattle Living people People from Puyallup, Washington Year of birth missing (living people) Origin Records artists Jazz musicians from Washington (state)