As instrumentalist Cooper has played woodwind instruments professionally since the 1980s. His work includes backing
Jennifer Holliday,
Kenny Rogers,
Macy Gray,
Manhattan Transfer,
Glen Campbell,
Mitch Ryder (and
Detroit Wheels),
Chris Stamey and playing woodwinds on national tours for
the Producers,
Sweet Charity, and
A Chorus Line. He has also been a featured guest artist/soloist at the Western States Jazz Festival, the
Birmingham International Jazz and Blues Festival (U.K.), the 45th International Horn Symposium, and the Festival Virtuosi (2007) in
Recife, Brazil. Also as a
woodwind player, Cooper has been a featured classical artist and soloist with the
Hot Springs Festival Orchestra,
Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the
IRIS Symphony Orchestra, and as a chamber soloist internationally.
As composer (highlights) Cooper first writing music professionally in the early 1980s. He was first hired in 1992 as a staff arranger for
Columbia Pictures Publishing/Belwin; his television and media music writing credits include
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. His music has been featured at numerous venues around the world to include the
North Sea Jazz Festival and the
Montreux Jazz Festival. He is the musical director, composer and chief arranger for the
Jazz Orchestra of the Delta; in 2003 they produced the CD
Big Band Reflections of Cole Porter. He also serves as the musical director and chief arranger for
Kathy Kosins and her show
Rhapsody in Boop. In February 2006 Cooper collaborated with choreographer
Mark Godden to produce the ballet
Two Jubilees commissioned by and for
Ballet Memphis. Though his catalogue has a great deal of varied music, his work emphasizes the
big band genre. Two definitive CDs were recorded in 2014 that exemplify Cooper's adeptness as a jazz orchestra composer and arranger:
Mists: Charles Ives for Jazz Orchestra and
Time Within Itself. Both are recognized internationally as exceptional examples of contemporary, progressive big band composition and orchestration. As a staff composer and arranger, he is featured with the
BBB featuring Bernie Dresel on their acclaimed 2022 CD
The Pugilist. Cooper serves as Composer in Residence with the
Southern California based Big Band Jazz Machine.
Chamber and solo works His
Sonata for Trombone was commissioned in 1997 and has been widely performed and recorded by trombone artists including
Mark Hetzler,
Tom Brantley,
Lance Green, Chris Buckholtz, and Michael Davidson (among others). The work is recorded on two highly acclaimed recordings for
Centaur Records and
Summit Records. Cooper's
2nd Sonata for Trombone was completed in 2018 and recorded on the release
Synthesis for
SkyDeck Music.
The Sonata for Alto Saxophone was commissioned for and first premiered in July 2000 at the
12th World Saxophone Congress in Montreal, Canada. It is described as belonging with "such landmark 'jazz/classical' pieces as the
Phil Woods Sonata, on any recital or concert program that explores (both) these worlds."
One of the Missing – for those lost in Iraq for
euphonium was commissioned in 2007 and premiered in 2008. It is a
protest piece that shows the composer's anti-war stance against the
Iraq War; the title is taken from the anti-war/
Civil War short story and
film adaptation of
Ambrose Bierce. The work was also used on the soundtrack of a 2011 Canadian television film broadcast on the
Vision network. Cooper's Violin Sonata was premiered on May 27, 2018 as part of the Barnstedter Kapellen Konserte series in
Barnstedt,
Germany; recording of the work for commercial release was on June 26/27 at Greve Studio in
Berlin.
Berlin, Germany , February 2016|thumb|right From June 2015 through August 2016 Cooper resided full-time in the
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough of
Berlin, Germany and continues to commute between the U.S. and Germany and makes his home in both
Schöneberg, Berlin and
Memphis, Tennessee. He serves as a staff arranger, musical director and production assistant for
Marc Secara and the
Berlin Jazz Orchestra for live performances and recording sessions. He also assisted in arranging for the Collegium musicum Potsdam Symphony Orchestra and the Compass Big Band. Cooper has conducted music and performed in venues such at the
Wühlmäuse Theater,
Heimathafen Neukölln and
Kunstfabrik Schlot. He also served as a
Visiting professor and
Artist-in-residence at the
SRH Hochschule der populären Künste and is currently a visiting professor at the
Universität Erfurt. He has worked closely with German jazz, pop and
Schlager personalities such as
Marc Secara,
Jiggs Whigham and
Marc Marshall. Since 2018, Cooper has collaborated with German, film documentary director
Anne-Kathrin Peitz. He is featured on the award winning
The Unanswered Ives documentary and is and also featured on the 2022 television documentary about the life and music of composer
Paul Dessau.
Awards and special recognition Jack Cooper is currently honored as a named professor by the University of Memphis and also the UM College of Communication and Fine Arts: 2025 Faudree Professor and 2025 Rawlins Professor of Music. He was named as the Pearl Wales Professor of Music from the University of Memphis Scheidt School of Music, 2020-22. He was also the 2020 recipient of the University of Memphis CCFA Dean's Creative Achievement Award and the 2010 recipient of the Distinguished Achievement in the Creative Arts Award from the
UMAA. 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 for Recording Program in 2003. He is also the recipient of numerous
ASCAP composer awards since 1996. As a presenter he has been honored as the key-note speaker for the
Modern Language Association, scholar and main presenter for four different
National Endowment for the Humanities series on
American Music, and the Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities. As conductor of the University of Memphis Jazz Singers, the group was awarded "Outstanding Performance" honors in the notable
DownBeat Magazine 48th Annual Student Music Awards. ==Teaching and education career==