Jim Cooper, the award winning vibraphonist and composer has led numerous groups, appearing as both soloist and sideman.  He has shared the stage with such jazz icons as Frank Wess, Milt Hinton, Marcus Belgrave, Larry Vuckovich, Art Van Damme, Ira Sullivan, Buddy de Franco and Jon Faddis and the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, as well as many musicians from Chicago, West Michigan and Detroit.  Jim has appeared at The Chicago Jazz Festival,  The Jazz Showcase, Sutton’s Bay (MI) Jazz Festival, Lansing Jazz Festival, Grand Rapids Jazz Festival, South Haven Jazz Festival, and clubs and concerts in Cleveland, San Francisco and Denver.   

 Jim came from a musical family and grew up on Chicago's southside.  He was influenced early by his his Mother and Grandmother's piano playing and his Father and Grandfather's record collection, ranging from the Harmonicats, Mario Lanza and C&W to Jimmy Smith and the Dukes of Dixieland.  At nine years old, he was singing along with records and playing his first instrument,  a metal Jay's Potato Chip can. This incessant rackett convinced his parents to buy him a drumset that didn't last long and was destroyed in a few days. After the family moved to the south suburbs of Chicago, he sang and played drums in a top 40 rock group in junior high school. In high school, he switched to keyboards, and played rock music of the 60s.  In junior college he studied classical piano and percussion and discovered how playing the vibraphone blended his drum and piano skills. In 1972 he was accepted into Ralph Shapey's composition class at the University of Chicago, and studied avant- garde composition. While a junior at Michigan State University, he bought his first set of vibes and returned to Chicago to learn to play jazz. Inspired by the 4-Bs (Berger, Bags, Bobby and Burton), he practiced diligently, went to jam sessions, played in a basement free-jazz group in Morgan Park, Chicago.

 In the 1980s, Jim began an association with one of his musical mentors, Chicago pianist and composer Bob Dogan.  The Jim Cooper/Bob Dogan Quintet performed around Chicago at many clubs and festivals.  Dogan stressed how important it was to keep writing original music.  In honor, Cooper recently composed “A Token For Dogan,” a tribute to the late pianist.  His first chance to record came in 1986 when he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant for a performance and to record his song, "Brilliant Shores."

As a Delmark recording artist in the early 90s, he recorded two CDs, Tough Town (1991) and Nutville (1992), with the late, great multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan. Starting up his own Jazmyn Records label, he released  three more CDs, Itchin' to Groove, Chi-Town Sessions and his most current, Make Someone Happy, a live, hard blowing session which features an outstanding, hard driving Chicago quartet also featuring Ira Sullivan. 

After a 3 month teaching residency in Taiwan in 1997, he moved to the Saugatuck, Michigan area. He was cofounder and  Artistic Director of Lakeshore Jazz Connection Inc.  and hosted  jazz bands from Chicago and Detroit.  

Awards included a  WYCE-FM "Jammie Award," for organist Jim Alfredson's recording, “Dirty Fingers, The Music of Big John Patton,”and a 2015 "Best Jazz Composition Award" from ArtPrize in Grans Rapids, Michigan for his song, Third Circle.  In 2019 his song, “Mallethead” was included in the book, The City Was Yellow, Chicago Jazz and Improvised Music 1980-2010. 

Jim received degrees from Northeastern Illinois University and had the intention of teaching public school but, ended up getting a masters degree and teaching in Taiwan for three months and then, Lake Michigan College from 2001 to 2023, as well as Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Jim taught jazz vibraphone briefly for the Jazz Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University.  He has given clinics and workshops throughout the country and endorses Musser vibes and Mike Balter mallets.  Jim just completed, Cookin' With Cooper, The Jazz Music of Jim Cooper, a book of over twenty of his jazz tunes.  He is President of Lakeshore Jazz Connection, a newly formed non-profit that presents concerts in the West Michigan area.

JIM COOPER REVIEWS  

• “. . . the more you listen, the more you appreciate the quiet but marked strength of Cooper’s style . . . he impresses with his stylistic range and the harmonically assured manner in which he draws his fellow players together.”  

Chicago Sun-Times  

• “Cooper is not just a strong soloist but an accomplished band-leader as well, he played with a degree of subtlety and craft one does not often encounter in the work of performers far better known than he.”

Chicago Tribune    

• “. . . he’s no kid, judging by his mature lines . . . a warm vibist who goes for the heart.”  

Jazz Times  

• “There seems no limit to the range of Cooper’s moods and themes: he delves deeply into each tune, from bop to bossa....he maintains openness through his warm, unfettered lines.”  

Cleveland (OH) Jazz Report  

•  “. . . nothing tricky, nothing overly glossy, and nothing so sophisticated that it’s lost touch with the streets.”  

Chicago Reader  

• “...your vibes are warm and true, the McCoy!”  

Studs Terkel  

• “Cooper gave the evening the sort of depth of modern jazz knowledge you’d expect from a Chicagoan.”....masterful vibraphone playing..."  

Grand Rapids Press  

• "Jim is the real deal, he's been there, done that and has been woefully under-recorded during his long career." 

International Association of Jazz Record Collectors   

• "An imaginative improviser, Cooper delivered quicksilver solos and propulsive rhythms..."  

AZ Music Scene  

• “...a very good player of standards and originals...deserving wider recognition."  

All Music Guide  

• "Cooper never missed a note,  the man is as smooth on the vibraphone as a baby's hand in the breeze."  

Burlington (IA) Hawkeye

“The trio was absolutely fantastic! Their energy, talent, and smooth sound created the perfect atmosphere. Every musician was top-notch, and the set was both lively and sophisticated. We received so many compliments from our guests—highly recommend!”

Brooke, GigSalad