Mike Cooper

Michael Cooper (born 24 August 1942) is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Initially coming to attention as a country blues performer, his later work also straddles jazz, Polynesian, ambient, and various experimental and improvisational styles.

Biography Early life Mike Cooper was born in Reading, Berkshire. After spending several years as a child in Australia, After meeting such musicians as Martin Carthy, Leon Rosselson and Don Partridge, he began playing in London clubs, and appeared briefly as a guitar player in the 1963 film That Kind of Girl. He bought a 1932 National resophonic guitar, and learned to play Blind Boy Fuller's repertoire of songs, gradually acquiring his own style and learning to play lap steel guitar with a miniature whiskey bottle.

Early career In 1965 Cooper turned professional, and played regular gigs in and around Reading. He met virtuoso guitarist Derek Hall, and they established a shared residency at the Shades coffee house in Reading, hosting visiting artists such as John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, Davey Graham, Al Stewart and others. With Hall, Cooper recorded a limited edition EP, Out of the Shades, on the local Kennet record label, comprising a mixture of country blues and other tunes. After Hall moved away, Cooper teamed up with harmonica player Jerry Kingett and recorded an unreleased album in the Netherlands. Cooper continued to perform as a solo act, touring widely in the UK and Europe. In 1968, he recorded another EP, Up the Country Blues, for the Saydisc label in Bristol, with liner notes by his friend Ian A. Anderson. Cooper and Anderson appeared, with fellow acoustic blues musicians Jo Ann and Dave Kelly, on the album Blues Like Showers of Rain, and Cooper and Anderson also shared the LP The Inverted World, both albums released on the Matchbox label. The album 'Ave They Started Yet? recorded a collaboration with dancer Joanna Pyne on a tour in Europe in early 1980. The same year, he recorded a live album in Berlin with free jazz musicians Dave Holland and Lol Coxhill (credited as "The Johnny Rondo Duo"). He also played in G.T. Moore's reggae band the Outsiders; experimental band The Mayhem Quartet; the "no wave" jazz group Beating Time; the band Avant Roots, playing a mixture of Greek rembetika and improvised music; acoustic country blues band National Gallery; and electric blues band Continental Drift. and Raft (2017).

Cooper has also written and performed scores for silent films played at festivals around the world. He has also written extensively on Hawaiian slack key guitar styles and performers.

Discography Solo albums Source: Mike Cooper Discography, Cooparia.com

Oh Really?! (Pye, 1969) Do I Know You? (Dawn, 1970) Trout Steel (Dawn, 1971) Places I Know (Dawn, 1972) Life & Death in Paradise (Fresh Air, 1975) Mississippi Delta Blues – Live from Papa Madeo (LTR, 1982) Island Songs (Nato, 1996) Kiribati (Hipshot, 1999) Zanzibar (Hipshot, 1999) Finding Other Worlds – 21st Century Guitars (Hipshot, 2000) Marconi (Hipshot, 2001) Globe Notes (Hipshot, 2001) Attenti Al Fuso (Hipshot, 2002) Radio Daze (Hipshot, 2003) Cruising Paradise (Hipshot, 2003) Rayon Hula (Hipshot, 2004) Metalbox (Hipshot, 2005) Reluctant Swimmer / Virtual Surfer (Hipshot, 2005) Spirit Songs (Hipshot, 2006) Giacinto (Hipshot, 2006) Borders (Hipshot, 2006) Send of the Sea (Hipshot, 2007) Beach Crossings – Pacific Footprints (Rai Trade, 2007) Future Folk (Hipshot, 2008) Aelita, Queen of Mars (Hipshot, 2008) Tabu (Hipshot, 2008) Onibaba (Hipshot, 2008) Pacific Voyager (Hipshot, 2008) Chao Phraya (Hipshot, 2008) Live at the Hint House, New York City (Qbico, 2009) Live in Sardinia (Hipshot, 2010) Live in Athens (Hipshot, 2010) Blue Guitar (Hipshot, 2010) Radio Paradise – Mike Cooper in Beirut (Johnny Kafka, 2011) White Shadows in the South Seas (Room40, 2013) Forbidden Delta Planet Blues (Linear Obsessional, 2015) Light on a Wall (Backwards, 2015) Fratello Mare (Room40, 2015) Guitar Solos – Free at Last (Hipshot, 2016) Sky Songs (Hipshot, 2016) New Guitar, Old Hat, Knew Blues (Room40, 2016) Raft (Room40, 2017) The Five Rings (Hipshot, 2018) Tropical Gothic (Discrepant, 2018) Playing With Water (Room40, 2020)

Collaborations and shared albums Source: Mike Cooper Discography, Cooparia.com

Blues Like Showers of Rain (various artists, Saydisc, 1968) Inverted World (with Ian A. Anderson, Saydisc, 1968) Mike Cooper with the Machine Gun Co. and Michael Gibbs (Dawn, 1971) The Machine Gun Co. with Mike Cooper (Dawn, 1973) How To Play Blues Guitar Vol. 2 (with Stefan Grossman, Kicking Mule, 1977) Country Blues Guitar Festival (with Stefan Grossman, Kicking Mule, 1978) 'Ave They Started Yet? (with Joanna Pyne, Matchless, 1981) Johnny Rondo Duo Plus Mike Cooper (with Lol Coxhill and Dave Holland, FMP, 1982) The Continuous Preaching Blues (with Ian A. Anderson, Appaloosa, 1985) Barbecue Strut (as The Recedents, with Lol Coxhill and Roger Turner, Nato, 1986) Aveklei Uptown Hawaiians (with Cyril Lefebvre, Chabada, 1987) Zombie Bloodbath on the Isle of Dogs (as The Recedents, with Lol Coxhill and Roger Turner, Nato, 1991) Avant Roots (with Viv Dogan Corringham, Mash, 1994) Improvvisazioni Quartetto (with Jean-Marc Montera, Mauro Orselli, Eugenio Sanna, Ada, 1998) Hulabaluh (with The Uptown Hawaiians, Hipshot, 2001) Live @ Cineclub Detour (with Richard Nunns and Elio Martusciello, Hipshot, 2003) Guardia Avanti (with Viv Corringham, Lol Coxhill, Steve Beresford, Max Eastley, Hipshot, 2003) Tu Fuego (with Jeff Henderson, Anthony Donaldson, Tom Callwood, Qbico, 2006) Oceanic Feeling-Like (with Chris Abrahams, Room40, 2008) Right Hear Side By Side (with Yan Chiu Leung, Linear Obsessional, 2013) Trace (with Chris Abrahams, Al Maslakh, 2014) Truth in the Abstract Blues (with Fabrizio Spera, Roberto Bellatalla, Ethbo, 2014) Cantos de Lisboa (with Steve Gunn, Rvng, 2014) Stochastic Parrot (with Pierre Bastien, Mark Cunningham, 2026)