At age 2, he played the first few notes of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on the keyboard, inspired by his father’s love for classical piano.
As an underclassman at Lamar University, he tooted and toted a tuba up and down the length of Cardinal Stadium, a member of the Lamar Marching Band, “the grandest band in the land.”
But for Coleman, the ultimate musical medium was the bass guitar, an instrument for which he proved a quick study in lessons beginning when he was a senior at Lamar. Along the way, he was a familiar figure in jazz groups at local clubs, performing with ensembles from the Bruce Thompson Quartet to the Jimmy Simmons Big Band.
Today, Coleman dazzles audiences five nights a week at Harrah’s in New Orleans as a veteran member of the Earl Turner Band, whose show he describes as “high-energy entertainment.” He has been the band’s musical director, as well as its bass player, for more than 20 years – on the hotel circuit and in Las Vegas and other Nevada venues.
Thanks to talent, revved by good fortune and happenstance, Coleman tipped
the scales from local favorite to the national spotlight. Somehow, he always managed
to be at the right place at the right time.
“Chris Coleman is one of the finest bass guitar players in the country,” said
Coleman’s former band director, Lamar President James Simmons. “He’s a wonderful
musician, and he’s so well rounded. He was one of our top students when he
was at Lamar.”
Coleman was born and grew up in Beaumont, where his father, the late
Wilson B. Coleman Jr., was a railroad brakeman with a passion for piano. “His two greatest loves were classical piano and Shakespeare, and I used to watch him play
when I was a kid,” Coleman recalls. “I was just a little over 2 years old, and I could
actually play the first few notes of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. So I think I’d always had the gift.”
But, said Coleman, “I didn’t think about pursuing it to any degree. Then, in
sixth grade, instead of taking art, I was accidentally put in band. While I was waiting
to get my schedule changed, I took up baritone horn. My band director said, “‘Well, play this in the meantime,’ I decided to stay with it.”
After graduating from Hebert High School in 1976, Coleman turned down a
substantial scholarship to another university and enrolled at Lamar so he could stay
at home. He and his mother, the late Alneita Coleman, talked long and hard
before reaching the decision.
“I wanted to be a guitar major, but Lamar offered no guitar classes at that
time, so I opted for theory and composition, which required me to have a major
instrument. Since I had played baritone and tuba in high school, the tuba became
my major instrument.”
His teachers included Raul Ornelas, who taught theory and composition,
Robert Culbertson and Wayne Dyess. He looks fondly on his experiences, both in
the classroom and in the marching band.
"The band was large,” he says. “We took up the whole football field.”
While he thrived on the experience and his prominence as the band’s tuba player, he still longed to learn bass. “Dr. Ornelas wasn’t teaching it at the time, but I was so persistent – and kept bugging him long enough – that he finally decided to give in and give me a few lessons. He was, I think, a little surprised about how quickly I was learning – because it was something I really wanted to learn.
“Before that, I was taking tuba lessons, hoping to be a major symphony player. But I decided because there’s only one tuba player for every major symphony, my chances would be a lot better on bass guitar.”
During his Lamar years, Coleman eased off campus to play with groups led by Simmons and Dyess. He became a popular attraction at Carlo’s with the Bruce
Thompson Quartet.
Soon after Coleman graduated, he caught his first big break.
A Las Vegas entertainer named Darcas Speed was in town with her band to play at a restaurant on Pleasure Island.
“Her bass player was touring in Japan, and they were trying to decide what to do about the situation. Bruce Thompson and I happened to be playing at the same time they were sitting in the restaurant talking. She said, “‘What about this guy?’ I almost had a serious heart attack. Just like that, I ended up playing with them for the three weeks they were here.
“She gave me an offer to come to Vegas. She was going to buy me a one-way ticket, but I decided the time wasn’t right.”
Soon, singer Sonny Rhodes was playing Beaumont’s Sheraton Hotel on 11th Street, then popular with touring show groups, and was auditioning players. “I went to audition but with the intention of not taking the job, and I told him that up front. I wanted to give him the chance to hear me and leave the door open.” Coleman received the job offer and decided to accept it.
Life on the road had begun. After performing with Rhodes, he hooked up with FJM Productions, owned by a popular Florida dance band leader, Freddie Montilla,
and stayed with him about two years, performing with a group called Instant Majic.
He heard about Earl Turner and, after viewing a video, finally had the opportunity to see Turner live. “I was really impressed,” Coleman said.
Planning to get off the road completely, he returned to Beaumont.
Again, fate intervened. It turned out that Turner was coming to the Sheraton for two weeks. During the engagement, his bass player gave notice, and Turner invited
Coleman to audition. “He gave me three songs, and I came in the next day with all of
them ready. He was pretty impressed with that. He told me that if I wanted a job, I could have it. That was in 1985.”
At the time, Turner didn’t perform in Vegas at all. In fact, Coleman said, most bands traveled to major hotels for engagements of one to four weeks.
“That’s where the good money was at that time,” Coleman said.
By the late 1980s, however, life on the road lost its appeal. Turner’s son was school age, and the family wanted a place to call home. “Las Vegas was the best choice
because it was an entertainment Mecca and gave us the best chance of being in one city
all the time,” Coleman said.
“We lived in Vegas about 15 years, and I’d say the turnaround came in 1999. The Rio, which had just been purchased by Harrah’s, booked Turner to a long-term contract. We performed in the lounge five nights a week. Earl finally convinced them to make it a ticketed show group, and we moved into their main room, where we played for 700 people.”
But the best was yet to come: Turner was offered the chance to headline at
Harrah’s Showroom in New Orleans – the company’s fastest-growing property.
“They had some new ideas about how they wanted to expand the casino into more of an entertainment center,” said Coleman. “They were trying decide who the
best entertainer would be for the showroom. The division president of Harrah’s, Anthony San Felipo, thought Earl would be perfect. They worked out a threeyear
contract, and we celebrated our first anniversary this May.”
It was a festive week at the Earl Turner Theatre, with a number of New Orleans musicians featured in the shows. “We wanted to give something back to the community in appreciation for the success we had in our first year,” Coleman said. “So far, it’s going really well.”
Coleman lives in nearby Gretna with his wife of 10 years, Monica, who is embarking on a new career in interior design, and their sons, Christian, 9; Cameron, who’ll be 7 in July; and Caden, who just turned 3. The family also includes two cats, Prancer, a shelter adoptee, and Max, a Bengal.
Also like family are members of the band: leader and vocalist Turner, Curtis
Wilson, drums; Al Robinson, saxophone; Walter Cunningham, keyboards; Chuck Arnold, trumbone; Michael Skinjus, percussion; Cranston Clements, guitar; and Brandon Collins and Danielle Harris, background vocals. Brad Lockett is wardrobe manager.
“We’re more like a family than a band,” Coleman said. “We look out for each other. We help each other with our problems. When we get good advice, we share it with
one another.”
The biographical information on the Earl Turner website lists Coleman’s favorite music as classical, particularly Baroque; the three words that best describe him as “helpful, considerate, crazy”; and the thing he can’t live without as “all that life has do offer.” His favorite cuisine is seafood – no surprise for a New Orleans import from
Beaumont.
“I’m loving New Orleans,” Coleman said. “It has a lot to offer as far as culture, and there’s a lot of history here. Because we were outsiders coming to a community heavily influenced by music, we wanted to make sure we were part of the community by donating our time to charities, or whatever the case may be. We didn’t want to come off as some hot Vegas act trying to take the city by storm.
“Before we moved here, billboards about Earl Turner were everywhere. People wondered, ‘Who in the world is Earl Turner?’ After a while, they started realizing
who he was, and they have accepted him very well here.”
As the band’s musical director, Coleman organizes the show’s music and
rehearsals. Each show night, he and Turner do pre- and post-production work, which
involves improving any aspect of the performance that might make it better.
“This show is very high energy,” Coleman said. “I think that’s one of the
things the people like. We don’t do the same songs every night. We have slots within
the show so we can rotate the music depending on the type of crowd we have. I
think that makes a big difference. People like spontaneity, and we get people from the
audience involved. We do rock, pop, jazz, country, Motown, Memphis sound, soul
music, Broadway, gospel. I tell people it’s a little bit of everything for everybody.”
Coleman adds: “Lamar gave me the experience and tools necessary to perform with major acts. I never would have had the opportunity to realize that without the various workshops Lamar had with well-known artists like Jack Jones and the late Joe Williams. In addition, however, working with Earl Turner taught me that performing
on stage in a high-energy mode is also important, versus standing in one spot the
whole night and playing alone.”
A second career has been that of educator. Coleman earned teaching certification from Lamar and additional credentials in Nevada, where he had a day job teaching at-risk youths in an alternative education program of the Clark County school district.
“A lot of them were in gangs. Some were drug dealers or murderers,” he said, “But I loved doing it, and I still miss teaching a little bit.”
When he’s not organizing the show or performing, his family comes first. He also enjoys listening to classical music. He’s taking up golf and making regular trips to the driving range. “I don’t let music consume my life,” he says.
Nonetheless, Coleman believes his dreams have been realized. Recently, while cleaning out some boxes, he ran across an old resume from Hebert High.
“One of the goals I listed was to work for a major entertainer and be his musical arranger or conductor,” he said. “I couldn’t have hit the nail on the head more than in what I’m doing now.”
