Bill Coleman

Biography

William Johnson Coleman (August 4, 1904 in Paris, Kentucky, United States – August 24, 1981 in Toulouse, France) was an American jazz trumpeter. In 1909, Coleman's family moved from Kentucky to Cincinnati. His first musical explorations were on clarinet and C melody saxophone, but he eventually settled on trumpet. As a young man he worked as a messenger for the Western Union telegraph company. He studied with Cincinnati trumpeter Theodore Carpenter, and played in an amateur band led by tromboni...