Leroy Cooper - One Man Band - in his own words

Saving Music History
By Susan Cross

This is an excerpt from Leroy Cooper's memoir as told to me back in 2007. The material is copyrighted by Susan Cross and cannot be copied, published or duplicated without permission.

Copyright Charles Wells Photography

If the title doesn't show at first, refresh the page to listen.

Leroy Cooper had a wonderful life. His musical accomplishments include about 20 years as baritone sax player and bandleader for Ray Charles.

In addition, he was a great story teller. I had the great honor of sitting wth him and listening to him recount his tales. Here is a little clip about how his interest in music first developed.

To see Leroy back in 1975 leading the Ray Charles Orchestra, click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spJ1zGY6w5I

You can hear Joe Adams introduce him. The man with the very large Afro hairstyle playing keyboards when Ray comes out is the magnificent Ernest Vantrease, a.k.a. The Deacon. Ernest was with Ray for about 30 years and now plays keyboards for B.B. King.

Copyright © 2010 Susan Cross – All rights reserved

B.B. King goes to Europe at age 84

You'll Always Have Paris
By Susan Cross




If all goes according to plan, B.B. King and his fabulous band have crossed the pond by now and will be in Paris Sunday or Monday. I won't be going but I hope the Europeans will be as kind to B.B. as the Americans have been. Keep in mind, he is an 84 year old blues legend and that can never change.

Why, you ask, is this significant to me, a little (4'10-1/2") blogger like me? Two of my dearest friends are likely to meet somewhere in France in the next few days. B.B.'s keyboard player, Ernest Vantrease, a.k.a. The Deacon, as he was known during the 30 years he played with Ray Charles, will meet with one of the co-founders of Soul Bag magazine, Joel Dufour. There should be two dots over the 'e' in Joel but I don't know how to make that happen on my blog.

Joel has devoted many years to interviewing and writing about American blues musicians, mostly black (or if I'm going to be p.c. African American or is it now Afro-American?) We all know what I mean and no offense is intended toward anyone, obviously since many of these musicians are my friends.

In his quest to identify the musicians behind the musicians, those whose names are recognizable only to serious music fans, Joel has sought out the people who played horns, drums, keyboards, guitars, etc. in order to give them credit and keep their memories alive. He is truly one of a kind.

I've seen a lot of concerts in the past 6 months. Each front-man introduced the members of their bands but usually the applause was louder than their names. Clapton gives his musicians their due and so does Roger Daltry but the only names I remember from their recent tour was Peter Townsend's brother (whose name I didn't catch) who is playing guitar in Peter's place due to his battle with deafness.

I realize the musicians in the background change from tour to tour, but don't you think that Clapton hand-picked those who would back him up? Can you name them? I can't.

Leon Russell and Willie Nelson did a better job. I liked the fact that Leon had a young guitar player, introduced him and let him do one of the guitar player's songs with the spotlight on him. That was classy.

When I saw Tony Bennett, he gave credit to every songwriter who had written the song he was about to sing as well as the artist who originally recorded the song and made it famous. That was super-classy, but I guess when you are 80 years old you have learned humility although Bennett always struck me as humble. Maybe that is something you can't learn.

Michael Buble is a terrific crooner who puts on a great show but he has not written a single song; he co-wrote "I just haven't met you yet" with his keyboard player, whose name I can't recall. He gives no credit to any songwriters and the young fans who created an atmosphere that could only be called 'Michael-mania' screamed and carried on, throwing roses on stage just as a teenager might for the Jonas Brothers. I interviewed a few of these love-sick girls, who would be very disappointed to know that he has a steady girlfriend, and asked them if they knew who wrote the songs he sang. They all believe Michael did. He sang a song written by Leon Russell, one written by Bobby Darin and the list goes on. I also asked if the girls knew who the bandmembers were and they could not name a single one.

Alas, Joel Dufour has taken on a mighty task. Many of the great musicians he is trying to credit for their work are no longer alive but still deserve to be remembered. Leroy Cooper, of course is one of them. Most people don't know his name even though he stood front and center leading the Ray Charles orchestra for 20 years, doubling on baritone sax.

So it is with a happy heart that I wish for my friend Ernest Vantrease to meet with my committed friend, Joel Dufour to try to put together some of the musicians with the songs and albums on which they played and got no credit for on the liner notes.

Hats off to both of them for doing something that rarely gets done anymore, remembering the greats that are no longer with us but whose music will live forever.

Copyright © 2010 Susan Cross – All rights reserved

Meeting Leroy Cooper - memoir of conversations

We Should Write A Book
By Susan Cross

The great philosopher Yogi Berra once said, "If you come to a fork in the road take it." I had come to that fork. I have written a book that is near completion was not taking the right course. I had almost decided to ditch the book and close my business. I make a decent living writing articles and I thought that maybe I should stick to that for now.

Last week I had an epiphany. I saw my friend, Ernest Vantrease, keyboard player for B.B. King. The band was in town for a show. After visiting with Ernie and feeling the strong bond we share I considred our history and how we got to know each other. When I traced my steps back to our meeting I realized that I was taking the wrong approach to the book. My original plan had been to write Leroy Cooper's memoir. In fact, that project took on a life of its own during the 2-1/2 years that I worked with Leroy. I met many people who knew him, did interviews with a variety of people, many of whom played with Ray Charles when Leroy was his bandleader, and even had one of them visit and stay in my home in order to attend Leroy's funeral.

After seeing Ernie I realized that what I should be writing is my brief memoir describing the experiences since I met Leroy Cooper and how that first meeting led me to where I am today. Of course, Leroy's stories are a large part of my story but each one took me in a direction that I chose to pursue in tracking down old friends of his and forming some new relationships. And therein lies the story.

I have a new plan and will follow this path right up until the present. I have heard the expression, "Write about what you know." Well, there is nothing I know better than my own experiences told from my point of view. I was never intended to be a ghost writer on the project and I am not a ghost. I am a writer and have decided to start from the beginning, about 3 years ago and bring it forward.

Copyright © 2010 Susan Cross – All rights reserved

One year anniversary since Leroy Cooper passed

Missing The Man And The Music
By Susan Cross

This photo shows Leroy Cooper in Houston with friends. It was taken a couple of years before his passing. Leroy, of course, is the smiling man holding his bariton sax. To his left are John Bryant, drummer, and Ernest Vantrease (the Deacon), keyboard player.

This week marks the one year anniversary since we lost Leroy Cooper and his music. It occurred to me that his passing took place on January 15, 2009 but at the time, I didn't realize that the date was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. My focus was so glued to my friend, Leroy, that I completely missed the significance of the date.

The next morning, when Leroy's wife called to tell me of his passing, I spent much of the day contacting his friends and musicians who knew him, both personally and by reputation, to give them the news. The news was shocking at the time. I had seen Leroy weeks before and done a final interview for the book about his life. During that interview he had given me a valuable piece of information which he had withheld up until that point. I didn't know it would be the last thing on his mind to share.

Of course there was sadness. I miss him still. I listen to the recordings of his voice, telling me his stories and I can see him in my mind. I listen to Ray Charles' CDs and pay special attention to the horns, hearing Leroy bringing up the bottom.

Leroy Cooper was a gentle soul. For anyone who has forgotten, his passing was followed by two of his friends and sax players, David 'Fathead' Newman and Hank Crawford. Last January was one of great loss to the music world.

During 2009, I attended five funerals, Leroy's being the first. Three of them were personal friends, all under 60 years old, and one was another musician and friend, Billy Hall, also in his 50's. It was a year of loss.

Now that we are into a new year, I look back and realize that as much as I miss Leroy, he was 80 years old when he died. He lived a very full life, which has been chronicled and will be published this spring. The other friends that I lost were so young to pass on, some after long years of suffering, others more suddenly.

The sadness is deep for all but I celebrate Leroy's life and am grateful that he did not suffer from a long illness. I watched him grow older during the few years that I knew him. Towards the last year, his physical strength weakened and his final show he played the alto in lieu of the baritone saxophone because he just didn't have the lung power to blow that big horn anymore. That was five days before he died.

January 22 will be the anniversary of his memorial service. My thoughts are with his family who miss him more than I do, I'm sure. Although he was a quiet man, his presence in the household was a calming one and his smile always sweet.

It is important that Leroy is not forgotten. He leaves a long legacy of music and a life that was defined by it.

Copyright © 2010 Susan Cross – All rights reserved

Blues musicians' nicknames

Funny how blues musicians have to be given nicknames in order to be recognized. This phenomenon occurs in other genres and of course, is rampant in athletes.

Leroy Cooper was dubbed by his high school band director as Hog. David Newman got his label, Fathead from that same man. Hank Crawford didn't use his first name which was Bennie. All of these are sax players that played with Ray Charles. Ernest Vantrease, keyboard player for Ray for almost 30 years, was dubbed The Deacon, although now that he's with B.B. King he is known by his given name.

Speaking of B.B. King, his real name is Riley B. King, but it is generally known that the B.B. stands for Blues Boy.

Buster Smith's given name was Henry. How 'bout this one? Antoine Dominique Domino became famous as Fats Domino.

Would blues fans recognize a song by Amos Blakemore? Would they know that Buddy Guy was the man performing it?

The list goes on and on and even in local blues bands, if you don't have a nickname you're not a 'cat' as Leroy would describe you. Here in Orlando, we have Mad Dog Mahoney, Mojo Jones, the Iceman, Birddog Bobby, Lil Mookie, and the list goes on.

Go ahead and show me what you know. Leave a comment with one that I've left out. There are plenty that have slipped my mind this morning -- it's Saturday and I was going to take the day off. Hah!

Video post of Leroy Cooper with Ray Charles

To my loyal readers and newcomers, if you haven't scrolled to the bottom of this blog give yourself a treat. There is a YouTube video posted there of Ray Charles, the Raelets and Leroy Cooper leading the orchestra. Listen for Joe Adams to make the introductions. Leroy is the large man all the way on the right with the 'big' saxophone and the smile.

The Deacon, the keyboard player with the large Afro, is Ernest Vantrease. 'Trease is the single person who played with Ray Charles longer than any other musician, 30 years, right up until Ray's deah five years ago. Fortunately, Ernest Vantrease has found a new gig playing keyboards with B.B. King. Did you know that B.B. King and his band travel by bus all over the country? Of course, on this recent trip to Germany, they relented and flew across the pond.