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Vocalist
Ronald Cooper, not to be confused with the extremely busy studio cellist of the same name, has been active in Chicago's always-stimulating music scene since the '90s. He has yet to come up with any sides on his own, but is regularly featured as a collaborator with performers such as
Bradley Parker-Sparrow, who utilized the vocalist on his Sparrow Shortwave project, and Windy City saxophone legend
George Freeman, making superb use of both background and counterpoint vocals on the
George Burns album.
Cooper's various involvements follow the typically winding path of the Chicago jazz scene, which historically has always involved myriad layers of collaboration between performers in the related, separate, but not always equal genres of swing, rhythm & blues, rock, and funk. The previously mentioned
Parker-Sparrow project even is something of an overview of this entire process, although some listeners may find it laced with both pessimism and pretension. Much easier-to-take samples of this vocalist's work can be found on the
Freeman disc, which also includes the collaboratively composed (or perhaps completely improvised) piece entitled "And She Left Me," credited to
Freeman,
Cooper,
Parker-Sparrow, and jazz vocalist
Joanie Pallato, with whom
Cooper has also recorded. ~ Eugene Chadbourne