Montez Coleman
Montez Elliot Coleman (July 23, 1973 in St. Louis, Missouri; January 14, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri) was an American jazz musician (drums).
Montez Coleman (right) with the Roy Hargrove Quintet at the Nice Jazz Festival (2011), with Jonathan Batiste, Ameen Salem, and Justin Robinson
Coleman began working in the music scene of his hometown of St. Louis in the mid-1990s; his first recordings were made in 1997 with Ahmad Alaadeen (Time Through the Ages). Over the next twenty years, he played with Willie Akins, Reggie Thomas, Jeanne Trevor, and Claus Raible. In New York, he played as a session musician with Russell Gunn, Bobby Watson, Rufus Reid, Gerald Cannon, Ron Westray, Derrick Gardner, Bill Cantrall, Roberta Gambarini, Russell Malone, and Spike Wilner, among others. As a member of Bruce Barth’s trio, he performed at the Smoke jazz club; from 2007 he was a member of the Roy Hargrove Quintet and his big band, appearing on albums such as Earfood (2008) and Live at the New Morning (2010). According to Tom Lord, he participated in 30 jazz recording sessions between 1997 and 2014, most recently with the Bosman Twins (When Lions Roar) group featuring saxophonists Dwayne and Dwight Bosman.
In 2014, Coleman performed at the Smalls jazz club in New York with his own quintet, which included Rick Germanson, Gerald Cannon, Christopher McBride, and Marquis Hill. Coleman’s regular connections included a group with bassist Vincente Archer and pianist Bruce Barth, with whom he recorded a joint album in 2021. Coleman died at the age of 48 from complications of heart failure at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.