COOPER-MOORE
Multi-Instrumentalist / Composer / Instrument Builder
Born in segregated Virginia, Cooper-Moore came of age as a musician and active member of the civil rights and peace movements. He became a pivotal member of the Free Jazz movement beginning with the collective Apogee with David S. Ware.  He lived and performed at the Jazz Loft at 501 Canal Street. Cooper-Moore's primary instrument is the piano, though the many instruments he has designed and built have become part of his trademark. He is an important educator, inspiring generations of young artists through Head Start and other music programs around the world. Over the years he has also sought to mentor young musicians to pass forward the music that he feels so strongly about.
His contributions to music come from the total commitment that he makes to every sound, tone, and rhythm that comes through him into the instrument at hand. The quality of his approach to music is unique and based in his roots in the South. Because of his talent, he was chosen by his community to develop and play the music that had come to him from his background and was informed by the ongoing struggle for Civil Rights as he came of age. His music encompasses all of this and more. As with every genius, his music is the expression of the magic of Sound passing through.
Cooper-Moore has written and performed for playwrights such as Rita Dove and Laurie Carlos, and choreographers Joan Miller, Rod Rogers, Marlies Yearby, and Judith Jackson. He has led his own bands such as Triptych Myth and Digital Primitives. He has been a central figure in William Parker’s In Order to Survive and Gerald Cleaver’s Black Host. 
At the Vision Festival in 2017, Arts for Art celebrated Cooper-Moore's lifetime of Achievement with performances by In Order to Survive, Digital Primitives, and Black Host.

Mark your calendars! Vision Festival returns to Roulette June 11-16, 2019.  Arts for Art is honored to announce that drummer Andrew Cyrille will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.  Opening night, June 11, will feature Mr. Cyrille in performance with artistic collaborators from across his career including Milford Graves, Peter Brötzmann, Wadada Leo Smith, Brandon Ross, and more to be announced.   

On Thursday November 15, 2018 we will also host special salon at the 75 Club at Bogardus Mansion, celebrating the announcement of Andrew Cyrille's award, and featuring solo performances by Cyrille and 2018 honoree Dave Burrell.  Details below.

William Hooker developed his idiosyncratic drumming style across a diverse array of experiences. Raised in Connecticut, he came up through the gospel tradition, going on to study political science, sociology, and history, all while feeding an insatiable appetite to hear and learn as many musical styles as he could.  According to William, at no one point did he become a musician, he had always been one.
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Hooker began refining his free jazz chops in the seventies as an important player in the New York loft scene. As a bandleader, he has fielded ensembles with artists like Billy Bang, David Ware, William Parker, Thurston Moore, Zeena Parkins and many more. His original productions seamlessly incorporate dance, video, text, and other multimedia. In his words, Hooker is not willing to accept the role of the drums as 'a rhythm section.' He challenges the established stigma around the drums, by presenting them upfront of the band, and exploring and presenting all the characteristics of his instrument.

"When I play, I always try to go outside of me being here as a human. I try to go someplace where a sound is inanimate and unseeable; to deal with those tools that it takes to create the unseen."

William Parker's In Order to Survive quartet perform at the Vision Festival on May 29.  The group of Parker, Cooper-Moore, Hamid Drake, and Rob Brown have been Free Jazz mainstays for over two decades, and they will perform once again, this time in honor of Cooper-Moore's lifetime achievement recognition. 

Longtime collaborators drummer Whit Dickey, violist Mat Maneri, and pianist Matthew Shipp bring their collective to Vision Free Jazz Festival 22 on May 31. Their new release, Vessel in Orbit, out now on Aum Fidelity, is the first new music from these three as a group. Whit Dickey and Matthew Shipp have long history together, dating back to their membership in the David S. Ware Quartet. Catch their set at the Vision Festival for a true meeting of the masters! 

The Vision Festival debuted in 1996 at the Learning Alliance on Lafayette Street in New York's Lower East Side.  The festival came out of the Sound Unity Festival of the late 80's founded by William and Patricia Parker and Peter Kowald. The festival initiated with the title Vision for the 21st Century. On this brochure you can see Free Jazz legends Milford Graves, Joseph Jarman, David S. Ware, Charles Gayle, and Peter Brotzmann among others. 

Pianist and Free Jazz giant Dave Burrell returns to Vision Festival 22 on June 6 with his all-star quartet featuring Kidd Jordan on tenor sax, William Hooker on drums, and William Parker on bass. In 2004, Burrell brought the same ensemble with Steve Lehman and Sabir Mateen on reeds, to revisit the landmark 1969 BYG Actuel recording Echo. Dave Burrell is a true visionary, having performed alongside Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Sharrock, and countless otherwise; creating his own language on the piano; and recreating the tradition every time he plays.