Buster Cooper
Career
    
A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, United States,[3] Cooper played in a territory band with Nat Towles in Texas in the late 1940s and with Lionel Hampton in 1953.[3] He played in the house band at the Apollo Theater in New York City in the mid-1950s, and following this he was in Benny Goodman's band.[3] Late in the 1950s he and his brother Steve formed the Cooper Brothers Band.[3] From 1962 to 1969, he was a trombonist in Duke Ellington's Orchestra.[3] In 1973, he moved to Los Angeles, and played in jazz orchestras over the next several decades, including Bill Berry's band and The Capp-Pierce Juggernaut.[3] He led a trio at a restaurant in St. Petersburg, Florida.
In 1993, Cooper appeared as a jazz trombonist in the film Murder Between Friends, set in New Orleans.[4]
George "Buster" Cooper died on May 13, 2016, of prostate cancer in St. Petersburg, Florida, at the age of 87.[1][2]
Discography
    
    As leader
    
- E-Bone-Ix with Thurman Green (Blue Lady, 1998)
 
As sideman
    
With The Capp-Pierce Juggernaut
- Juggernaut (Concord Jazz, 1977)
 - Live at the Century Plaza (Concord Jazz, 1978)
 - Juggernaut Strikes Again! (Concord Jazz, 1982)
 - Live at the Alley Cat (Concord Jazz, 1987)
 
With Duke Ellington
- The Symphonic Ellington (Reprise, 1963)
 - Afro-Bossa (Reprise, 1963)
 - Ellington '65 (Reprise, 1964)
 - Plays with the Original Motion Picture Score Mary Poppins (Reprise, 1964)
 - Harlem 1964 (Pablo, 1985)
 - Duke Ellington's Concert of Sacred Music (RCA Victor, 1966)
 - The Popular Duke Ellington (RCA Victor, 1966)
 - Antibes Concert (Verve, 1967)
 - The Far East Suite (RCA Victor, 1967)
 - Liederhalle Stuttgart 1967 (SWR, Jazzhaus, 2020)
 - And His Mother Called Him Bill (RCA, 1968)
 - Second Sacred Concert (Fantasy, 1968)
 - Yale Concert (Fantasy, 1973)
 - The Great Paris Concert (Atlantic, 1973)
 - Duke Ellington's Jazz Violin Session (Atlantic, 1976)
 - Up in Duke's Workshop (Pablo, 1979)
 - Concert in the Virgin Islands (Discovery, 1981)
 - Serenade to Sweden (Black Lion, 1982)
 - Harlem (Pablo, 1985)
 - All Star Road Band Volume 2 (Doctor Jazz, 1985)
 
With Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington
- Ella at Duke's Place (Verve, 1966)
 - The Stockholm Concert 1966 (Pablo, 1984)
 - Ella & Duke at the Cote D'Azur (Verve, 1997)
 
With Lionel Hampton
- Wailin' at the Trianon (Columbia, 1955)
 - Lionel Hampton (Amiga, 1976)
 - Aurex Jazz Festival '81 (EastWorld, 1981)
 - Ambassador at Large (Glad-Hamp, 1984)
 
With Johnny Hodges
- Everybody Knows (Impulse!, 1964)
 - Triple Play (RCA Victor, 1967)
 - Swing's Our Thing (Verve, 1968)
 
With A. K. Salim
- Stable Mates (Savoy, 1957)
 - Pretty for the People (Savoy, 1957)
 - Blues Suite (Savoy, 1958)
 
With others
- Cat Anderson, A Chat with Cat Anderson (Columbia, 1963)
 - Billy Brooks, Windows of the Mind (Crossover, 1974)
 - Ruth Brown, Fine and Mellow (Fantasy, 1992)
 - Milt Buckner, The Definitive Black & Blue Sessions (Black and Blue, 1998)
 - Lawrence Brown, Inspired Abandon (Impulse!, 1965)
 - Arnett Cobb, Smooth Sailing (Prestige, 1959)
 - Arnett Cobb, The Wild Man from Texas (Black and Blue, 1977)
 - Harry "Sweets" Edison, For My Pals (Pablo, 1988)
 - Jimmy Forrest, Soul Street (Original Jazz Classics, 1998)
 - Benny Goodman, Happy Session (Columbia, 1959)
 - Earl Hines, Once Upon a Time (Impulse! 1966)
 - Abdullah Ibrahim, Bra Joe from Kilimanjaro (The Sun, 1979)
 - Abdullah Ibrahim, Tintinyana (Kaz, 1988)
 - Mundell Lowe, Satan in High Heels (Charlie Parker, 1961)
 - Mundell Lowe, Blues for a Stripper (Charlie Parker, 1962)
 - Oscar Peterson, Plays Duke Ellington (Pablo, 1999)
 - Bobby Short, Guess Who's in Town (Atlantic, 1987)
 - Frank Sinatra, Francis A. & Edward K. (Reprise, 1988)
 - O. C. Smith, Love Changes (Motown 1982)
 - Billy Strayhorn, Lush Life (Red Baron, 1992)
 - Dinah Washington, Wise Woman Blues (Rosetta, 1984)
 - Gerald Wilson, Calafia (Trend, 1985)
 
References
    
- Footnotes
 
- Vacher, Peter (May 26, 2016). "Buster Cooper obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
 - Cridlin, Jay (May 13, 2016). "Jazz icon, trombonist Buster Cooper dies at 87 in St. Petersburg". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
 - Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 556. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
 - Murder Between Friends, Library of Congress, accessed 31 December 2022
 
- General references