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Artist
Tom Collier
12+ albums
Vibraphonejazz
about
Tom Collier is a multi-instrumental percussionist and vibraphonist, with a career in music spanning more than fifty years. He has performed and recorded as a session musician with many important jazz, classical, and popular artists. He has also performed and recorded with his own jazz group and has released solo albums. He joined the faculty at the University of Washington in 1980. Collier grew up in Seattle, Washington. Collier made his first public appearance in Puyallup, Washington on April 2, 1954 at age 5 on the xylophone. His first professional performances were at age 9 as a marimba player, and then at age 13 he appeared on The Lawrence Welk Show. With the emergence of rock and roll as the dominant musical force in America, the young Collier was exposed to music that would have a lasting impact on his career. As a teenager growing up in Seattle, he enjoyed the music of The Wailers (rock band), a Tacoma, Washington-based rock band considered by many to be the first garage rock group. Collier was especially fond of their song "Dirty Robber". Collier has been director of percussion studies at the University of Washington since 1980. In 1991, Collier released his instrumental album Pacific Aire, in which he collaborated with Bud Shank on alto saxophone and flute and Don Grusin (Dave Grusin's brother) on keyboards. Jazz writer Scott Yanow appreciated the level of musicianship evident in the album, but he criticized the music as "lightweight...as if no one is taking any r
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