Cooper, Jerome (D.)
Cooper, Jerome (D.)
Cooper, Jerome (D.) , avant-garde jazz drummer, percussionist; b. Chicago, 111., Dec. 14, 1946. He began playing drums as a teenager, taking lessons in high school, and then attended the American Cons. (1967–68). At the same time, he gigged with local R&B and jazz bands. In 1969 he moved to Europe to work with Steve Lacy; a year later, he played in Gambia and Senegal with Lou Bennett. Cooper accompanied Rahsaan Roland Kirk on Kirk’s European tour of 1970–71. In 1971 he returned to the U.S. and formed the Revolutionary Ensemble with Leroy Jenkins; he played piano, bugle, and flute, in addition to drums and percussion, with the group. They disbanded in 1977; during this same period, Cooper also gigged and recorded with various leaders, including Sam Rivers (1973) and Maurice Mclntyre (1974–80s). From 1977, he has worked as an unaccompanied soloist; in 1980 he recorded with Cecil Taylor.
Discography
For the People (1979); Toot Assumptions (1978); The Unpredictability of Predictability (1979). Revolutionary Ensemble: Vietnam (1972); Manhattan Cycles (1972); Positions 369 (1977). S. Lacy: Wordless (1971). A. Braxton: New York, Fall 1974 (1974). C. Taylor: It Is in the Brewing Luminous (1980).
—Lewis Porter