Pat Coil

Pat Coil, a skilled keyboardist, has concentrated primarily on the more commercial facets of jazz throughout his personal recordings. Starting piano instruction at age eight, he took charge of his own ensembles as a young teen, performing a mix of rock, country, and occasional jazz numbers. Over four years at North Texas State University he played in the institution’s One O’Clock Lab Band and, during that period, frequently performed in clubs across Dallas and Ft. Worth. His most prominent early affiliation came in the late 1970s when he spent two and a half years playing, touring, and recording with Woody Herman’s Orchestra. Once that engagement ended, Coil spent five years in Dallas as a studio musician. With his group Recoil he issued the albums Pardon My Fantasy and The Fantasy Continues. On several occasions he filled in for Lyle Mays in Pat Metheny’s Group. Eventually relocating to Los Angeles, he established himself as a session player and spent a year on the road with Carmen McRae. Additional recording credits from this era include work with Ernie Watts, Nancy Wilson, Grant Geissman, Scott Henderson, and Natalie Cole on her Unforgettable CD, along with numerous pop projects. In the early 1990s he cut two solo albums for Sheffield Lab in the contemporary jazz style.