Tom Collier

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 was born in Puyallup, Washington on June 30, 1948 and grew up in Seattle, Washington. His parents were professional musicians; Ward Collier, known to his friends as "Whitey", played trumpet in various lounge bands around the Seattle/Tacoma area. His mother, Ethel, often played piano in her husband's quartet. Tom Collier made his first public appearance in Puyallup, Washington on April 2, 1954 at age 5 on the xylophone and in the spring of 1957, he appeared on "Top Tunes and New Talent, a nationally televised television show hosted by bandleader Lawrence Welk. His first professional performances were at age 9 as a marimba player, and then at age 13 he was a guest artist at the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair with Lawrence Welk in concert at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

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". At the same time, he was exposed to jazz through his father's recordings of Charlie Parker, Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington and others. At the age of 11, his father took him to see Lionel Hampton in concert. "That was a life-changing experience. I saw him play the vibes with such energy, but I also remember how he jumped on top of a fortified tom tom and danced on it. The crowd went wild."

By the time Collier graduated from West Seattle High School in 1966, he was beginning to compose and record pieces rooted in rock and jazz with his longtime friend, guitarist and electric bassist Dan Dean. The two would continue playing music together well into the 21st century.

...
Wikipedia