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{{Jack Cooper (musician, composer, arranger)}} |
{{Jack Cooper (musician, composer, arranger)}} |
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{{Portal bar|Biography|music|jazz}} |
{{Portal bar|Biography|music|jazz}} |
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Jack Cooper
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| Jack Cooper, 2002
Jack Cooper, 2002
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Thomas Cooper, Jr. |
| Born | (1963-05-14) May 14, 1963 (age 61) Whittier, California |
| Origin |  La Habra, California |
| Genres | Jazz Classical Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Multireedist, composer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, music director, producer, educator |
| Instrument(s) | Saxophones Clarinets Flutes |
| Years active | 1981- |
| Labels | Summit Centaur Select-O-Hits Planet Arts |
Jack Cooper (born John Thomas Cooper Jr., May 14, 1963, Whittier, Ca.) is an American composer, arranger, orchestrator, multireedist, and music educator. Most notably he has written music for well-known and Grammy winning pop, jazz, and classical artists to include Aaron Neville,[1] Joyce Cobb,[2] Donald Brown,[2] Alexis Cole, Tony Campise, Bobby Shew,[3] Christian McBride,[4] the Westchester Jazz Orchestra,[5] the U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors, the Dallas Wind Symphony,[6] and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. His catalogue of music is extensive ranging from jazz through contemporary classical; he has worked for Columbia Pictures Publishing, Warner Brothers, and Alfred Music as a staff arranger since 1993.[7] His writing style is summed up as, "...propulsive and sassy on an initial listen, revealing subtle shadings and intricate nuances upon repeated listening. I might have guessed Don Sebesky...on a blindfold test."[8]
Jack Cooper was born in Whittier, California on May 14, 1963, he was raised in nearby La Habra. He is the younger brother of artist and stylist Cathy Cooper and also the grandson (x4) of Mrs. Harriet Blanton Theobald, “Mother of Greenville.”[9][10] His mother, Georgie Cooper, was an accomplished classical pianist and he served as her page turner on piano and organ jobs.[11] His father was an amateur clarinet and sax player who gave Cooper his first instruments. First musically inspired by clarinetist Artie Shaw at age eleven, he later was taken by Charlie Parker's playing on the alto sax from his dad's 78's; he took up the flute in college.[12]
After graduating from Sonora High School and having first studied with Ernie Del Fante, Cooper attended Fullerton College where he studied composition and arranging with Tom Ranier and saxophone with Dave Edwards and Don Raffell.[13] While at Fullerton College he recorded on the Down Beat award winning LP, Time Tripping playing saxophone and woodwinds in FC's collegiate jazz groups. He later transferred to California State University, Los Angeles where he received a B.A.inMusic education and clarinet in 1987 having studied with Vito Susca. Cooper also studied jazz composition with and was heavily influenced by Stan Kenton's former staff arranger Bob Curnow. "Since college, when I first began studying big band musical arrangements, (I) wanted to orchestrate for jazz ensembles."[14] Two years later he completed a M.A.incompositionatC.S.U.L.A. and had studied with Byong-Kon Kim, William H. Hill, and David Caffey.[15] Cooper was classmates at C.S.U.L.A. and worked closely with both Eric "Bobo" Correa and Grammy winning trombonist Luis Bonilla. He has collaborated closely on several musical projects over the last 20 years with Bonilla with the most recent one being Mists: Charles Ives for Jazz Orchestra.[16]
Later composition studies were with David Baker, Gerald Wilson,[17] Manny Albam, Karl Korte, and Richard Lawn; in 1999 he earned a D.M.A. in composition from the University of Texas at Austin.[18][19]
His first notable professional work in Los Angeles as a multireedist was with the Kingsmen, Shari Lewis, Mateos Parseghian, the Tak Shindo Orchestra, Si Zentner, Steve Jam, the Dive, and the Last Mile.[7]
At age 25 (in 1989) Jack Cooper won an audition to work as a saxophonist and staff arranger for the United States Army Jazz Knights stationed at West Point, 40 minutes north of New York City.[20] For 6 years he toured, performed, and recorded extensively with the West Point Band's musical group to include A&E television appearances at the Hatch Memorial Shell with the Boston Pops, jazz festivals across the Northeastern United States, backing entertainers and jazz artists such as Bob Newhart, Lee Greenwood, Pete Yellin, Chris Vadala, Byron Stripling, and playing on and writing for demos and studio recordings.[7] He participated in the funeral of former President Richard M. Nixon in April 1994;[21] he was awarded the Army Commendation and Achievement medals while also rising to the rank of staff sergeant.
During this period in New York through 1995 he worked extensively backing other entertainers and artists such as Tony Martin, The Lettermen, Clint Holmes, Fred Travalena, Dennis Wolfberg, and worked as arranger and saxophonist for 3 years with the band Alma Latina.
For close to 30 years Cooper has played woodwind instruments on a wide range of assignments. The list of credits for television, recordings, live shows, and Broadway is extensive. The diversity of work in more recent years include backing Jennifer Holiday, Kenny Rogers, Macy Gray, Manhattan Transfer, Glen Campbell, Mitch Ryder (and Detroit Wheels) and playing woodwinds on national tours for the Producers, Sweet Charity, and A Chorus Line among many others.[7] He is known primarily as a "lead alto player" and has been able to demonstrate this through his work with the Tommy Dorsey Orchetra, the Guy Lombardo Orchestra, and the Temptations.[22][23] The 2009 CD release Coming Through Slaughter: The Bolden Legend demonstrates his lead playing as a multireedist with very challenging repertiore in the jazz idiom. He has also been a featured guest artist/soloist at the Western States Jazz Festival,[24] the Birmingham International Jazz and Blues Festival (U.K.),[25] the 45th International Horn Symposium,[26] and the Festival Virtuosi (2007) in Recife, Brazil.[27]
Cooper's emphasis on classical playing and repertoire is also important to what his musical career entails as a performer. He has been a featured artist and solist with the Hot Springs Festival Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and the IRIS Symphony Orchestra.[28] He is amongst a small group of musicians who have a playing career being able to cross over from jazz to classical to pop on several woodwind instruments.
As a composer and arranger Cooper has had a wide and varied career since first writing music in the early 1980s. The large catalogue of works includes solo instrumental pieces all the way through full symphonic works for orchestra and singers; the list of published works alone is over 150. He was hired in 1992 as a staff arranger for Columbia Pictures Publishing/Belwin; his television and media music writing credits include the The Jenny Jones Show, Danish Radio 2 (DR P2), E! Entertainment shows, Access Hollywood, JBVO: Your All Request Cartoon Show, American Restoration, Deal or No Deal, and Extra.[29] His music has been featured at numerous venues around the world to include the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival.[30]
Since December 1998 he has been the musical director, composer and chief arranger for the Jazz Orchestra of the Delta; in 2003 they produced the internationally acclaimed CD Big Band Reflections of Cole Porter featuring Cooper's original compositions and arrangements. Singer Sandra Dudley is utilized as the primary singer for the group. The CD includes commissions he had written for Gary Foster and Peter Erskine; Marvin Stamm serves as the guest soloist on this release.[7] He also serves as the musical director and chief arranger for Kathy Kosins and her show Rhapsody in Boop.
Serving as both composer and musical director, in February 2006 Cooper collaborated with award winning choreographer Mark Godden to produce the ballet Two Jubilees.[7] His musical influence on the ballet as composer and musical director was praised and showed his versatily as a prolific artist. Critic Christopher Blank commented, "...if one were to consider a title that better unified the program's two very different ballets, a fitting substitute would be 'Jazz Orchestra of the Delta,' or even just the word 'Cooper.' Performing live for the dancers, the excellent 17-piece ensemble founded by Jack Cooper...was a marvelous treat midway through the ballet's (sic) season..."[14][31]
Though his catalogue has a great deal of varied music his first love for writing a still in the jazz orchestra, big band genre.[14] His big band writing has been featured with many groups internationally on the professional and educational levels, "...this style of jazz music (sic) is my wheel house of expertise."[17][32]
His Sonata for Trombone was commissioned in 1997 by the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity at the University of Texas at Austin. This work has been played by and recorded by numerous prominent trombone artists to include Luis Bonilla, Tom Brantley, Mark Hetzler, Lance Green, Chris Buckholtz, and Michael Davidson[33] (among others). The Sonata for Alto Saxophone is a seminal solo work recognized to "belong with such landmark 'jazz/classical' pieces as the Phil Woods Sonata, on any recital or concert program that explores (both) these worlds."[34] The work was commissioned by Paul Haar and first premiered at the 12th World Saxophone Congress July of 2000inMontreal, Canada. One of the Missing - for those lost in Iraq for euphonium was commissioned in 2007 and premiered in 2008.[35] It is unique as a protest piece in showing the composer's anti-war stance against the Iraq War; the title is taken from the anti-war/Civil War short story and film adaptationofAmbrose Bierce.[36] The work was also used on the soundtrack of a 2011 Canadian television film broadcast on the Vision network.[37]
Jack Cooper is the 2010 recipient of the Distinguished Achievement in the Creative Arts Award from the UMAA.[38] He was chosen in 2003 as a nominee for the annual NARAS Premier Player Awards and also was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Aaron Copland Fund Recording Program that same year.[39][40] He is also the recipient of numerous ASCAP composer awards since 1996.[41] As a presenter he has been honored as the key-note speaker for the Modern Language Association and the scholar and main presenter for four different National Endowment for the Humanities series on American Music.[7]
As a strong advocate of music education, Jack Cooper has been teaching at the collegiate level for over the past 18 years. Before his appointment to the University of Memphis as director of jazz studies 1998, he had taught privately and worked as a clinician for the U.S. Army Jazz Knights. He has served as an invited clinician, guest artist, and conductor for the Missouri All-State Collegiate Jazz Orchestra, the Tennessee All-State High School Jazz Ensemble, and the Arizona All-State High School Jazz Ensemble.[42] He also serves as an educational clinician/artist for Alfred Music Publishing making appearances at state educational music conventions throughout the United States.[7]
and Big Band de Sarreguemines 
are examples of international groups using Cooper's music.
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