Paul Cooper is an amazing solo Blues touch guitarist and vocalist who has developed his unique style after immersing himself in the Blues. Taking piano and violin lessons from the age of 4 and loving all forms of music it wasn't until 1973 when the blues found him in the form of Howlin' Wolf and Hubert Sumlin in Atlanta, Ga. Paul met Hubert at a time when Hubert was planning to leave the Wolf and form a band, including Paul. Hubert introduced the young Paul to Freddie King as his "protege". While in Atlanta Paul was invited to play on a number of occassions with Muddy Waters followed by the Willie Dixon band. Paul was enthralled,impassioned and hooked on the blues.Louisiana Red invited Paul to New York City to record with him on his new album.While in New York, Paul played with Sugar Blue in the New York City Blues Band and as a result of that relationship an album was later recorded on the Victoria Spivey label, called "New York Really Has the Blues" (1974). They played the streets everyday, being the first to have battery powered amps and clubs at night like Max's Kansas City. After 2 years Paul went to Chicago with his friend and guitarist, Brooklyn Steve Freund.On the first day of arriving in Chicago, Paul played with Hubert Sumlin, Eddie Shaw, Detroit Jr, Chickenhouse Shorty at Wolf's 1815 Club on the Westside. Paul then played with Homesick James at Elsewhere on Lincoln on the Northside. Paul moved to Chicago where he became totally immersed in the Chicago Blues scene working with many of the great Bluesmen like Sunnyland Slim, Freddy King, Tail Dragger, Big Leon Brooks, Big Walter Horton and many others. Louis Myers, who did all the guitar parts with Little Walter, called Paul one day and invited him to join his band, asking Paul-"why would I hire you to play in my band when I am a guitar player myself?"Paul didn't know how to answer that one. Louis continued, answering his own question"because I plan to play a lot of harmonica and I think that you're the best guitarist in Chicago for accompanying Blues harmonica". Paul was totally floored. They played to a packed house at Wise Fool's Pub. In addition to Louis and Paul, the band consisted of A.C. Reed on saxophone, Odie Payne, Jr. on drums and Bob Stroger on bass. There were days that Paul would wake up thrilled because his own band would be performing that night consisting of such Blues luminaries as Fred Below on drums, Hubert Sumlin on guitar, Dave Myers or Bobby Anderson on bass. Over the years, Paul played with Magic Slim, Jimmy Rogers, Frank Jr., Willie "Mr. Guitar" Lyons, Big Moose Walker, Chico Chism, Otis Rush and many other Blues greats. In 1978 Sugar Blue asked Paul to go over to Paris, France for a three month tour that turned into eight years of success in Europe. While in Europe, Paul played many of the festivals and was Memphis Slim's last guitar player up until Slim's death. Paul returned to the US in 1987 craving sunshine and American television and was drafted back into the Bluesman Willie band. While in Paris, Paul witnessed Jim Lampi playing the Chapman Stick and was enthralled. Paul had a flash of inspiration and in a millisecond saw everything that he had been doing on guitar translated into two handed tapping and knew that he had a lot of work ahead to bring this new style into the real world. Paul channeled his obsessive compulsive musicality into translating all that he had learned over the years into what would become the encyclopedia on how to approach two handed tapping technique. "Touch" with the the rhythmic demands of the Blues. This has never been seen or done before. "GaGa" his recording of 1998 represents the culmination of years of uncountable hours of intensive wood-shedding. It 's the future and the past here and now! There were no teachers for this. Paul had to create this style by himself. Audiences, young and old were stupefied with his mastery of this original style. Comments like--"it's not possible", "incredible" are heard regularly at every one of his appearances here and abroad. Recent performances have included such locations as Paris, Geneva and in Washington, DC at the Corcoran Gallery and the Smithsonian Institute. He has taken what used to be the other musicians parts of his eight-piece band and plays these all at the same time--SOLO. You hear the bass lines, the rhythm guitar, the solos, the horn section, all while Paul is singing at the same time! And he's got a sense of humor. Totally awesome. On "GaGa" Paul wrote all the songs and created the cover artwork. On his track entitled, "I love My Baby" Paul unveils 'touch slide guitar' for the first time in recorded history. Paul also invented 'touch stride guitar', in the grand tradition of great musicians like Meade Lux Lewis, Willie 'the Lion' Smith, and Fats Waller. You can hear it documented for the first time in history on his songs, "Mojo Naguila", "Jilly Jill","Mojo Come Home" and "Hold that camel". He is the the 'now' and 'future' of guitar, an evolved guitarist. His tribute to Jimi Hendrix "I Miss Jimi" was, in the words of one reporter, Dennis Holstun, writing a review of a Los Angeles concert: "Paul was able to float us all...out onto the lucid sea of memory and vision that only Hendrix could paint...Paul moves right along investigating some of the uncharted regions between the 9th and 15th frets of his quad soap-bar Les Paul. Meanwhile his left hand knocks out bass lines lower on the neck. It sounds like two guitars. He uses no pick, but "intones".. You'll love it. The sweet mix of Paul's stage innocence and bold approach to the guitar is a freshness you look for..."Mojo Come home" and "Where'd you sleep last night?'( Hommage to Hubert Sumlin and the Wolf) make this young player a guy you will enjoy seeing. What may be ahead for Paul if I get the clues he drops so easily into songs already being performed on 8 levels...is more solid accomplishment in split verse single/double time and added syncopations perhaps only he hears. Everything is safe however, because of Paul's inherent talent for phrasing." Paul's CD can be found at http://cdbaby.com/cd/paulcooper . A big Thank you to Marta Rothwarf for the bio information. All the scrolling artwork below is by Paul Cooper and colorized by the incredible Dave Larks. Paul would like to thank Suzanne Holmes for designing this page. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- CDBABY LINK for PAUL COOPER: GaGa --
This next video is called "I Miss Jimi -trilogy plus reprise". It was recorded in 1992, in Philadelphia PA, USA... width="425" height="350" ..These are people that I love, with all my heart, but have never met!!! Match up their pictures with the friends list thumbnails!
