Cooper-Moore

Cooper-Moore
Photo by Kate Glicksberg
Background information
Born	August 31, 1946
Genres	Free jazz Improvisational music
Instruments	piano, organ, horizontal hoe-handle harp, flute, fife, percussion, ashimba, twanger, three stringed fretless banjo, diddley-bo, mouthbow, TeZe
Associated acts	Digital Primitives Trio

Cooper-Moore (born Gene Y. Ashton, August 31, 1946, Loudoun County, Virginia) is an American jazz pianist, composer and instrument builder/designer based in New York City. At age 8, he was recruited by community leaders to be the piano player for the town, and soon thereafter performed at church services and community functions. When he was 12 years old, he heard musicians such as Ahmad Jamal and Charles Mingus, and was inspired to pursue jazz. He has cited pianist Jaki Byard’s contributions to Mingus’ band as a particular inspiration.

He moved to Boston in 1967 to briefly attend Berklee College of Music. In Boston he connected with many musicians, some of whom became longtime collaborators, notably David S. Ware, Marc Edwards, Cleve Pozar, and Juma Santos. In 1970, he formed a collective trio, Apogee, with saxophonist David S. Ware and drummer Marc Edwards.

In 1973, he and the rest of Apogee moved to New York City and established a living and performance space at 501 Canal Street which served as a home base for musicians including David S. Ware, Alan Braufman, Jimmy Hopps, Tom Bruno, and Ellen Christi. His first commercial recording appearance was on Braufman’s “Valley of Search” LP, released by India Navigation. Encouraged by Jimmy Hopps, he began to design and build instruments, beginning with an ashimba, an 11-note xylophone made from discarded wood.

In 1975, he returned to Virginia with his family. There he worked with bands from a variety of genres, continued to further develop an array of handmade instruments, and worked as an educator with the Head Start program.

Upon his return to New York City in 1985, he changed his name to Cooper-Moore, derived from the surnames of his grandmothers. He has performed and recorded with William Parker’s In Order to Survive and Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra, Bill Cole’s Untempered Ensemble, and Assif Tsahar. He established, recorded, and toured with Triptych Myth, a piano trio with Tom Abbs and Chad Taylor. He has recorded and toured extensively with Digital Primitives, a trio with Tsahar and Taylor. He has also collaborated with Daniel Carter in William Parker’s Organic Trio. He has performed at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in a piano duo with John Blum in 1996, and a solo performance in conjunction with the Blues for Smoke exhibit in 2013. His current projects include solo performances on piano and handcrafted instruments, the Cooper-Moore Trio with Brian Price and Pascal Niggenkemper, Digital Primitives, and Gerald Cleaver’s Black Host.