A tribute to Roy Coran; Jazz band leader turns 80 this year Saturday, June 20, 2009 http://www.chroniclejournal.com/stories.php?id=194106
Birthdays are important, but turning 80 is something very special. This year Thunder Bay's Roy Coran will be celebrating his 80th birthday on Oct. 7. His musical talent has enriched the Canadian Lakehead over a span of almost 60 years.
Roy started his Jazz Big Band in the 1950s with 10 musicians. The band played every Saturday night at the Exhibition Auditorium. The dance floor was packed as the couples danced to the great sounds of Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and some of Roy's own compositions.
It was the Roy Coran Orchestra that provided music for the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition stage shows, the Ice Capades and Shrine Circus performances at Fort William Gardens. Over the years Roy's band has performed countless times at senior homes, high school proms, at the local libraries, the military ball, at the grandstand show at the Exhibition with an audience of up to 3,000 people.
The band entertained many more with its live radio show during the 1950s and '60s and backed up visiting entertainers Bob Hope, Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck and Al Martino. Henry Questa from the Lawrence Welk show performed with the Roy Coran Jazz Big Band in the early 1980s.In 1950 Roy also opened a music store, which is in his daughter Debbie's capable hands today. At the back of the store was a studio where Roy taught young aspiring musicians to play clarinet and saxophone.
Roy is a first-class musician and instrumentalist. Most saxophonists who became professional musicians in Thunder Bay during the 1950s and '60s studied with Roy at some point during their careers. Roy has also held the position of president of the Local Musicians' Union for several years.
Now in the year 2009 Roy will turn 80 years old. He is no longer able to play his powerful tenor saxophone due to health reasons. However, he still leads his orchestra with passion and determination. The band consists of 20 musicians and still rehearses and performs regularly under Roy's leadership. In fact, the band has become a family over the years.
We, the musicians of the Roy Coran Jazz Big Band, love and respect our leader who started this wonderful orchestra and kept it going for almost 60 years!
Next Wednesday, June 24, at 6:30 p.m., Roy Coran and his Jazz Big Band will be playing the opening concert for Summers in the Park. Roy will be honoured with a scroll from the City of Thunder Bay in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Thunder Bay live music scene and for his contribution as an arranger, composer, teacher of music and for being one of the finest musicians this city has ever seen.
Hedi Beale Vocalist and manager, The Roy Coran Jazz Big Band Thunder Bay