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Alan Cooper fondly remembered
Alan Cooper remembered.
Alan Swainston Cooper (1931-2007)
This story was originally published in the New Sunday Times Travel Book (1986) and is an account of a jazz tour of the Low Countries I made with former Temperance Seven clarinettist Alan Cooper in 1985. The tour was set up by another dear and departed friend, the late Dave Smith (1923-2006) of Eindhoven, who found the venues, accommodated us in hotels and his own home, and usually bought the beers as well...
Low Country Life
By Jamie Evans
"A Foggy Day in London Town, in B-Flat," says Coops. "One...two...one, two three, four," miming grotesquely. And off the four of us go, skittering through the chord changes. Two Brits and two Dutchmen, we have never even met before let alone rehearsed. We don't even speak each others' languages. We are performing in the Trafalgar pub, Eindhoven, southern Holland, on an August Saturday night, by now halfway through a good, romping version - even though I say so myself - of Just One of Those Things.
The Dutch audience is clapping, the proprietor is smiling. I titter at the piano as Coops, bass clarinet under his arm, makes his standard intermission announcement. "And now the gentlemen of the ensemble will take a short break and repair to the bar to mingle with members of the audience who will, no doubt, express their appreciation in the time-honoured tradition." And they do. Our first gig is a success.
The Alan Cooper Trio (there are in fact four of us) is a hit on the eve of our two-week Dutch tour. The proprietor is an admirer of Thelonious Monk. He feeds me genever jong as I play Round Midnight for chorus after chorus until my hands can barely move through fatigue and gin.
Continued on Alan Cooper 2
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