Jack Coles (musician)

Jack Coles was born in London and began music at an early age. After studying the trumpet at the Royal Military School of Music from 1933 to 1934 and winning the "Gold Cup" for best all-round pupil, Coles played with leading British dance bands until the outbreak of war in 1939, when he enlisted in the King's Royal Rifle Corps.[2]

After his time in the Rifle Corps, Jack Coles enrolled in the British Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (AEF), where he played trumpet and arranged for its conductor, George Melachrino. In 1946, Coles started broadcasting for the BBC Radio with the 'Music Masters', a short-lived ten-piece dance band.[2] He went on to form, at the request of the BBC, a larger, 22-piece light orchestra named 'Jack Coles and his Orchestre Moderne' which lasted over a decade. This orchestra did over 200 broadcasts for BBC Radio, appearing in light orchestral programs such as 'Melody Hour', 'Morning Music' and, 'Music While You Work'.[3] In 1958, Coles was invited to the BBC Festival of Light Music at the Royal Festival Hall in London. By this time, he was guest-conducting for various BBC Regional Light Orchestras and touring Holland with the BBC Studio Choir.[4] One of these regional orchestras, the BBC Midland Light Orchestra (MLO), had been without a permanent conductor since early 1959. In August of the following year, the BBC appointed Jack Coles as the principal conductor of the MLO, a post he held until 1972.[5]

In 1972, Jack Coles retired to Positano, Italy. However, he returned to London around ten years later and conducted in two editions of a revived series of ‘Music While You Work’ for BBC Radio.[9] Jack Coles died on April 24, 1991, four days before his 77th birthday.

Jack Coles's musicianship, program-building, and conducting ability were held in high regard by the BBC and earned him a favorable reputation. Coles was also known for his generosity, as he often aided struggling musicians financially.[6]