Henry Cooper

Henry Cooper - Baby Please - 1998 - High Action Records

Without question, Henry has long been regarded as one of the Northwest’s premier guitar players. Whether it is working in a band like The Terraplanes or the Duffy Bishop Band, backing Screamin’ Jay Hawkins or leading his own outfit, Henry has always entertained us. - Cascade Blues Association “Bluesnotes”

"I've been fortunate enough to share time with many major Blues guitarists, Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl, Robert Cray, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, to name a few, and its clear that it's someone's distinct style that makes a player stand out. I've watched Henry Cooper develop and come up with his awn style, one that is raw and funky. That's hard to do, and very cool."-- Curtis Salgado

An enjoyable album from Henry Cooper. There are fourteen originals here with great vocals, guitar, and harmonica from the underrated bluesman. Henry played with the great The Duffy Bishop Band for five years. "Baby Please", Henry's first official solo recording was originally issued on Heney's own High Action label, and although it had a very limited distribution, it was deemed good enough to win one of the four awards drom the "Best Pacific Northwest Blues CD Releases" in 1998. Buy his "Automatic Trouble: Henry Cooper Live" album, and listen to his "Slide Man" album

TRACKS

Bad Times In Season
Baby Please
Don't Want To Move
No Way
Million Dollar Hooker
Automatic Trouble
Getting Closer
Dynasonic Boogie
Don't You Get Tired Of Treating Me Bad
If You Don't Love Me
Dis Pas Ca
Hard Head
Darkness
Burn It Down

All songs composed by Henry Cooper, except "If You Don't Love Me" by Jack Williams, and Henry Cooper

BAND

Henry Cooper - electric & slide guitar, harmonica, vocals
Eric Bryson - bass
Andrew Larsen - keyboards
Andrew Cloutier, Larry Mahlis - drums
Kim Field - harmonica

BIO

The blues bug bit Henry Cooper hard when he was 16. At the time, he was toiling as a busboy in an Oregon hotel. Paul Butterfield's "The Work Song" came on the radio, and that was it for the blues-struck teenager. He was hooked. Wasting no time, he headed out to buy records that would give him more of that bowled-over feeling he first got while listening to Butterfield's band glide through the airwaves. Among his first purchases was a record that featured Muddy Waters and Butterfield, "Fathers & Sons." He also started frequenting blues clubs around the city of Eugene, where he discovered such harmonica players as Curtis Salgado, Mike Mother, and Bill Rhoades. Three years later, Cooper played the harmonica on a 45, and it was his first foray into the world of recording. Cooper became interested in the guitar during his early 20s. Unable to afford a regular guitar, he purchased a lap steel guitar from a pawnbroker and set about trying to transfer harmonica licks to his new instrument. He also attempted to emulate masters like Waters, Albert Collins, and Elmore James. The first group Cooper was in was Los Explorers, along with Fred Kellogg, John Barley, and Louie Samora. He went on to join the Milkmen before he settled into a band called Los Falcons with Barley, Andy Strange, and Boyd Small, who also had played with the Milkmen. By 1987, Cooper and his bandmates were set to perform New Year's Eve, sharing a stage with outrageous showman Screamin' Jay Hawkins. When Hawkins heard how well the band played his songs, he declared he wanted Cooper and the others along on his upcoming European tour. Hawkins was as goods as his word, and Los Falcons headed to Europe. Back in the states, Cooper moved his home base from Eugene to Portland. There he established a series of bands, among them the Terraplanes and Henry & the Hamhawks. By the 1990s, he and spouse Anne had settled in Seattle, where he started playing guitar for rising blues artist Duffy Bishop. The working relationship lasted five years, during which he appeared on a pair of Bishop's CDs, Back to the Bone and Bottled Oddities, which were put out by Burnside Records. When Cooper went out on his own, he devoted about a year to putting together his first solo album. High Action Records, Cooper's label, issued Baby Please in 1998. The CD earned critical and popular acclaim. Burnside released his next CD, Slide Man, for which Cooper penned 14 of the release's 15 numbers. © Linda Seida, All Music Guide

MORE ABOUT HENRY COOPER

Henry Cooper is in love, in love with a sound, a high-water-mark of blues guitar tone that had been set by the likes of Elmore James, Earl Hooker, Robert Nighthawk and Hop Wilson. It is clear from his newest release, "Slide Man", that it is influence, not imitation, that he has learned from the blues masters. He has taken to heart the importance of keeping things uncluttered and of driving straight down the middle of the groove until the last note has faded. The slide into the blues began for Henry at the age of 16, while he was working at the Eugene (OR) Hotel as a busboy. It was while listening to a local radio station that he heard The Paul Butterfield Band playing "The Work Song" off of "East West". Henry recalls, "I heard that amplified harp and thought "My God! What's that sound? It was amazing, I'd never heard anything like it." Henry began buying Blues records - one of the first ones he bought was "Fathers and Sons", which featured (among others) Paul Butterfield and Muddy Waters. Living in Eugene, Cooper was surrounded by some of the best Northwest harmonica players: Curtis Salgado (with his band the Nighthawks), Bill Rhoades, and Mike Mother. Henry checked them out, picked their brains and got turned on to Little Walter and other blues musicians. By age 19, he made his first recording as a harp player, a 45 with his friend Chris Coltraine. After finding a lap steel guitar at a pawn shop, Henry began using the licks he knew on the harmonica and applying them to the guitar as well as the sounds he'd heard from Elmore James, Muddy Waters and Albert Collins. By the age of 22, he was playing guitar in his first band Los Explorers. Even though he was living in Eugene, a small college town, there was a thriving blues scene and the musicians were always happy to offer their knowledge openly to an eager guitar player. After a few different bands, Henry met Boyd Small and Andy Strange and, along with former Los Explorers band-mate John Barley, they formed Los Falcons. In 1987 Los Falcons was booked into a New Year's Eve show with Screamin' Jay Hawkins. The band learned a bunch of Jay's tunes for the show and during sound check, Jay heard them play and said, "I'm taking you boys to Europe with me!" When the tour ended Henry moved to Portland and started several other bands which included: Henry and the Hamhawks and one of Portland, Oregon's favorite trios, The Terraplanes. Henry's relationship with Burnside Records began in the early 90's when he and his wife Anne moved to Seattle and Henry was introduced to a singer named Duffy Bishop, who was looking for a blues guitarist for her new band. Little did Henry know that The Duffy Bishop Band would take him on a five year ride as one of the hottest blues bands in the Northwest. The Duffy Bishop Band along with Cooper on guitar recorded two CD's for Burnside, "Bottled Oddities" and "Back To The Bone", before he decided that it was time for him to fly solo. Devoting most of 1997 to writing and recording, "Baby Please" was released on his own label, High Action Records, in May of 1998. Being Cooper's first solo effort, with limited distribution, "Baby Please" sold over two thousand copies and made several favorite lists from critics and fans alike. It made Real Blues top 100 CD's of 1998 as well as winning one of their four awards for "Best Pacific Northwest Blues CD Releases". Henry also shared Real Blues' "Best Slide Blues Guitarist in North America" award that year. © www.burnsiderecords.com