Bill Cole (musician) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bill Cole
Bill Cole (right) performing with Warren Smith in October 2005 in Takoma Park, Maryland
Background information
Birth name	William Shadrack Cole
Born	1937 (age 87–88) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Genres	Avant-garde jazz free jazz experimental jazz free Improvisation atonality dissonance
Occupation(s)	Musician (multi-instrumentalist) composer professor of music professor of African-American studies
Instruments	Ghanaian atenteben Chinese suona Korean hojok Korean piri South Indian nagaswaram North Indian shehnai Tibetan trumpet Australian didjeridu
Years active	1974 – present
Labels	Boxholder Records (de)
Associated acts	Untempered Ensemble
Alma mater	1967: University of Pittsburgh, BA 1970: University of Pittsburgh, MA 1974: Wesleyan University, PhD (with highest honors) 1987: Dartmouth College, Honorary MA
Spouse(s)	Linda Joy Punchatz (maiden); m. 1967 Sarah Elizabeth Sully (maiden); m. 1982
Scientific career
Institutions	Professor of Music, Amherst College, 1972–1974 Professor of Music, Dartmouth College, 1974–1990 Professor of African American Studies, Syracuse University, 2005–2010
Influences	Miles Davis John Coltrane Clifford Thornton Sam Rivers

William Shadrack Cole, known as Bill Cole, is an American jazz musician, composer, and teacher. He is also an expert in ethnomusicology, which is the study of music from different cultures around the world.

Bill Cole is special because he combines sounds from Eastern music with American jazz. He has spent over 40 years learning and mastering many unique wind instruments from different parts of the world. These include the Ghanaian atenteben, the Chinese suona, the Korean hojok and piri, the South Indian nagaswaram, the North Indian shehnai, the Tibetan trumpet, and the Australian didjeridu. He earned a PhD in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University. Bill Cole has also written two books about famous jazz musicians, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. He is the founder and leader of a music group called the Untempered Ensemble.

Bill Cole's Career

Teaching and Studying Music

Bill Cole has taught music at several colleges. He was a professor of music at Amherst College from 1972 to 1974. Then, he taught at Dartmouth College from 1974 to 1990. At Dartmouth, he became a full professor and even led the Music Department for three years, starting in 1981.

Later, from 2005 to 2010, Bill Cole was a professor of African-American studies at Syracuse University. He also served as the head of that department. He retired in 2010 as a Professor Emeritus, which means he kept his title after retiring.

When Bill Cole was studying for his master's degree at the University of Pittsburgh, his advisor was Nathan Davis, a jazz musician and ethnomusicologist. Dr. Davis was the first African-American teacher Bill Cole had ever had, going all the way back to kindergarten. For his doctorate at Wesleyan University, Bill Cole's advisor was Clifford Thornton. He also studied with another great musician, Sam Rivers, who was a visiting artist at Wesleyan.

Playing Music with Others

Bill Cole has performed with many well-known jazz artists. Some of these include Ornette Coleman, Jayne Cortez, Julius Hemphill, Sam Rivers, James Blood Ulmer, and Fred Ho.

Books by Bill Cole

Bill Cole has written two important books about jazz legends:

• Miles Davis: The Early Years (1974)
• John Coltrane (1976)

In his book about John Coltrane, Bill Cole explains that Coltrane's music dealt with real human feelings and problems. He wrote that the music included the "turmoil" of the times Coltrane lived in, but also the "peace" that was in Coltrane's heart.

Cole also wrote about how Coltrane's song "Alabama" was created. This song was a tribute to four young African-American girls who were killed in a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. Bill Cole noted that the melody of "Alabama" was inspired by the way Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in his speeches. A music critic named John Wilson praised Cole's book, saying he did a very careful job of looking at Coltrane's recordings, almost note by note.

Bill Cole's Music Recordings

Solo and with Other Artists

Bill Cole's Untempered Ensemble

Bill Cole's Family

Bill Cole's father was William Lucius "John" Cole (1896–1961), and his mother was Gladys Alice Seel (1902–1997). Interestingly, both Bill Cole's father and the father of famous jazz musician Miles Davis were dentists.

Bill Cole's first wife, Linda Joy Punchatz, is an artist. Her uncle was the well-known science fiction and fantasy artist Don Ivan Punchatz. Don Ivan's son, Gregor Punchatz, who is Linda's cousin, works as a digital artist for movies and video games.

Images for kids

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  Bill Cole (right) performing with Warren Smith in October 2005 in Takoma Park, Maryland