Corky Corcoran: In the Between Times

– by Sean Martin

Tacoma, 1940s, you are sitting at a small-time late-night jazz club. As you finish your cigarette and take another sip of your whiskey, a small, greasy-haired young man approaches the stage with his saxophone, ready to take his turn on the stage. If you didn’t know any better, you would miss that this would be the beginning of one of Tacoma’s best and arguably most famous artists.

Corky Corcoran is that young man who would reach international stardom for his legendary tenor saxophone skills. At first, known as a child prodigy and later, as a top-10 saxophonist of all time, Corky would leave behind both musical legacy and tragedy. Corky was known for his expressive tenor sax skills, producing a wonderfully warm and deep sound unique to him alone.

Compared to other artists, Corky would get his start very early in his life and continue making waves across the nation and even into Europe. You could hear him play almost anywhere, whether live, on vinyl, radio, or even on the big screen. Despite his sudden entrance into international stardom, his career would wane and be overshadowed by other contemporary artists like Stan Getz. While Corcoran enthusiasts have written about the peaks of his career, few have explored his life when his career began to recede. Although it’s widely known he continued to play as a soloist, with his own orchestra, or as a special guest with other bands, very few details are known during these times, which is what implored me to discover what Corky was up to in the between times.

Corky is most known for his role in famous acts, such as the Harry James Orchestra or Tommy Dorsey. At 16, Corky was adopted by respected artist Harry James to begin his career in the spotlight domestically and internationally. Corky would accumulate much of his fame and recognition with James from 1941-1947. After developing his skills, he left James to play with the respected Tommy Dorsey and develop his own band. However, this was short-lived; in 1949, while still working with his own band, he would return to Harry James until 1957. Only a little is known about the years when he parted with Tommy Dorsey and after leaving Harry James for the second time. Although only a few took the time to record his life during these periods, bits of information exist which help piece together a general idea of what Corky was up to.

The years in which only a little known of Corky are between 1947-1948, after leaving James to continue his own career, and from 1957 until he died in 1979.

The first clue I got was from an academic paper on Tommy Pederson, an American composer and trombonist. In the paper, I found my first lead—a personal correspondence to Jim Boltinghouse—trombonist of Corky’s involvement with Tommy Pederson. From 1946-1948, Pederson conducted his own orchestra, frequently touring places like the Palladium in Hollywood. Corky had joined Pederson, who, just like Corky, was eager to achieve economic and artistic independence. As I could find no more information on this subject, it’s likely this collaboration was brief, a pattern of collaboration and subsequent abandonment Corky would exhibit.

Shortly after his stint with Pederson, Corky joined or briefly played with Ike Carpenter. Carpenter was a popular West coast based jazz bandleader and pianist active in the 1940s and 1950s. He briefly conducted the Ike Carpenter Orchestra from 1946-1948. Given the timeframe of Corky and his departure from James, Corky was most likely playing with Ike in 1947. Dancers in Love is a song created by Ike and Corky during this time.

Corky’s work with Pederson and Carpenter occupied his time until he collaborated with Tommy Dorsey. For a brief time, starting in 1947, after Harry James disbanded, Corky was left on his own without a band. Although conjecture, what makes the most sense to me is that when left without James, Corky used his knowledge of the music scene and moved to LA, where he found work in the interim with Pederson and Carpenter and possibly other artists for short-term gigs. For whatever reason, neither of these were long-term commitments until Tommy Dorsey offered Corky a more stable career.

1957 was the year Corky finally left the Harry James orchestra to resume his solo career, and much of this time is left unrecorded. Despite a history of leaving and returning to James, in 1957, Corky’s career became more officially separated from James to pursue his own musical legacy, which leaves a span from 1957, until his death, to 1972. Because of this separation, Corky left the spotlight in less documented waters. What is known is that in 1958, the year after his departure, Corky would play at Primo Gasparetti’s newly-remodeled Wagon Wheel restaurant at 8602 South Tacoma Way. There, Corky would supply dance music with his four-piece band six nights a week.

Although the exact beginning date is unknown, Corky also became affiliated with the Leblanc Instrument Company around this time. In partnership, Corky would use a saxophone produced by the company and teach saxophone to students under them.

After an unknown illness, Corky rejoined James as a soloist in 1962. Through the remainder of the 1960s and 1970s, Corky joined the Harry James Band, playing gigs as a special guest. There are few, but some, recordings of this period in Corky’s life. The first is from a live performance in March 1971, with Corky featured prominently on the band’s performance of Gigi:

In 1974, audio was captured during another live performance that included the Harry James Band’s renditions of Alone Together, Caravan, Satin Doll, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, and Take the A Train. Here is Caravan, with an extended solo from Corcoran:

Corky’s career ended on a sad note. He eventually developed a severe issue with alcoholism which would go on to dominate the later years of his life. In 1979, he passed away due to complications arising from throat cancer.It’s a shame that such a talented artist’s life would become unknown and obscure. Although the highlights of his life are well-known, many just as important times have gone forgotten. All I have been able to gather is a brief collaboration between 1946-1948 with Tommy Pederson and Ike Carpenter, most likely in L.A. in hopes of finding his own career, and his work with the Leblanc Instrument Company.

There are few artifacts Corky left behind, but they help him understand, contextualize, and place his life on a timeline. With his passing, I hope as a city, we can remember this legend, continuing to play his music whenever possible and help to preserve his legacy as a true icon of Tacoma’s musical pride and history.

Further Reading

• Corky Corcoran profile on the Jazz, Blues, Female Vocalists and More… blog
• Corky Corcoran profile at HepJazz.com

About the Author

Sean Martin prepared this article as his final project for MUS 227: Musical History of Tacoma, at the University of Puget Sound. At the time he took the class in Summer 2023, he was a senior majoring in Economics and Business.