Gloria Cooper has the rare distinction of having blended – in her professional life – the artistic with the academic and the instrumental with the vocal.
She has performed as a pianist and singer - throughout the United States, Europe and Japan – in a variety of settings and with the likes of Eddie Harris, David ‘Fathead’ Newman, Eddie Henderson and Donald Bailey.
Gloria Cooper holds a doctorate in music and education from Columbia University and is an Associate Professor of Music at Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York. As a performer/educator, Dr. Cooper has over twenty years of experience teaching clinics, camps and workshops and has written on singing, jazz phrasing and related topics.
Gloria began playing piano at the age of five. She grew up in Missouri and completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Missouri. She lived in San Francisco from 1972-1988 where she played for twelve years in a number of venues, including the Jazz Workshop.
Dedicated To You, on the Origin Records label is Gloria Cooper’s most recent recording. Her quietly expressive vocals and sensitive yet swinging piano playing work at the service of an intriguing collection of jazz and popular tunes, many of which are rarely performed. Included are tunes by Hank Mobley, Sergio Mihanovich, Tommy Turrentine, James Williams, Renee Rosnes, Sammy Cahn, Harold Arlen, John Mercer, and more. She is joined on the recording by a top-notch group of musicians including: Freddie Bryant on guitar, Vince Cherico on drums, Wayne Escoffery on soprano and tenor saxophone, Tim Givens on bass, and Don Sickler on trumpet, flugelhorn, and arranger.
Publications include:
Cooper, Gloria, ed. Sing Jazz! Second Floor Music:New York, (2002)
Cooper, Gloria. “Decoding the Lead Sheet.” Classical Singer ! 15.7 (2002) 14-15, 24-25.
Cooper, Gloria. “Once More With Feeling.” Journal of Singing, Vol. 60, No. 2 (2003): 153-157
Cooper, Gloria & Sickler, Don. Jazz Phrasing: A Workshop for the Jazz Vocalist. Second Floor Music: New York, (2004). |
