Jerome Cooper, a drummer and percussionist who worked with Lester Bowie, Cecil Taylor, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Anthony Braxton and others, died in Brooklyn on May 6 due to complications of multiple myeloma, according to several online obituaries. Cooper was 68.
Born in Chicago on Dec. 14, 1946, Cooper studied music in the 1950s and ’60s, then moved to Europe toward the end of that decade. He returned to the U.S. in 1971 and joined the Revolutionary Ensemble trio, with whom he recorded two albums, in 1972 and 1977, and then a reunion album, And Now…, in 2004. In addition, Cooper released several albums as a leader, beginning with Positions 3 6 9 and Root Assumptions in 1978. His most recent release was Magical Approach in 2007.
