Jack Cooper is a musician and composer based near Cambridge, UK.
He is primarily the leader of Modern Nature, a group that blurs the lines between folk music, modern composition and improvisation. Since 2019, alongside collaborators Jeff Tobias and Jim Wallis, they have released two critically acclaimed albums and a host of other material that includes an instrumental album, a short record called Annual and four cassettes of improvised music. Their new album No Fixed Point In Space is out now on Bella Union Records, acclaimed by the likes of Pitchfork, Loud & Quiet and Under The Radar.
His notated music has been performed by the UK based chamber group Apartment House, at Fouroneone in New York and recordings of his pieces Tributaries and Arrival were released on the U.S. label Astral Spirits. He also leads a trio alongside Heather Roche and Dominic Lash who perform indeterminate scores.
Describing his work, Jack Cooper says “in all my work I provide a framework for musicians to interact within where no instrument or performer is more important than the other. All of the musical elements; the melody, the pulse, the dynamics and the narrative are the shared responsibility of the collective. I want to hear that magic in detail, so I lean towards slow and quiet music”.
He was previously a member of the rock bands Mazes and Ultimate Painting and has worked as a touring musician for Andrew Savage (Parquet Courts) and The David Nance Group.