Danny Koker

Another of gospel music's great stars of the past has received his promotion to his eternal reward.

Danny Koker passed away this past Sunday after a long bout with cancer. He was one of gospel music's most talented pianists, a fine singer and arranger, and he was a major part of some of the finest gospel groups of the post World War II era.

And as is the case with most of those great stars, I discovered him much later than I ought to have.

The first time I ever heard Danny play was on an RCA compilation of gospel quartets. Danny was playing with arguably the smoothest sounding quartet in gospel music history, the Weatherford Quartet. I enjoyed his piano stylings on "The Bible Tells Me So" but didn't think too much about him for several years after that. Though I did wonder why his name was spelled "Koker" rather than "Coker", the more common spelling of that name.

Later on, I discovered the Cathedral Quartet from watching them on the "Gospel Singing Jubilee" in the late 1970s. Though Danny was not with them at that time, my M.O. has always been to seek out those quartets that made a positive impression on me, and acquire as many of their recordings as I could, which I did. When I did, I discovered that Danny was one of their original members, and in retrospect also discovered what an integral part of their sound he was, not only for the time he was with them, but for all the years afterward.

For you see, the Cathedrals were always known for smooth harmony singing, and their fine, tasteful arrangements. Danny did most of their arranging during the years he was with them, and since the Cathedrals were spawned by the Weatherfords, it followed that their vocal harmony would be quite similar.

Much later, when I started writing the history articles for Southern Gospel News, I discovered that he was also a member of one of the more underrated but certainly accomplished groups of that era, the Foggy River Boys. Along wirh Bill Crowe and L. David Young(with whom he shared piano duties), the Foggies had a memorable, unique sound, and were one of the most gifted gospel trios that have ever existed.

Finally, my good friend Cliff Cerce assembled a CD for me of a 1968 concert in Clifton, NJ featuring the Couriers, the Blackwood Brothers(who had just acquired my all-time favorite bass singer, the late London Parris), and the Cathedral Quartet. Danny was not only playing piano and singing baritone with the Cathedrals, he was their MC on stage. And he was quite personable and engaging in that role.

I learned that all the "old man" jokes directed at Cathedral lead Glen Payne did not begin merely after the Cathedrals hit their peak in popularity in the 1980s, but were part of their onstage banter even back then. Danny Koker set the style and tone for much of what the Cathedral Quartet did in those subsequent years, both onstage and musically....and it's sad that even among some very devoted Cathedral Quartet fans to this day(most of whom only joined the bandwagon after the larger gospel music world did), Danny's work has been largely ignored or forgotten.

Well, THIS longtime gospel music fan agrees with noted gospel music historian John Crenshaw when he says that there may have been flashier pianists or baritones with the Cathedrals than Danny Koker, but there were none who were better.

Heaven now has quite a number of great quartets at its' disposal with the arrival of Danny Koker.

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