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Shane Cooper

Shane Cooper is a jazz bassist, composer and producer based in Cape Town, South Africa. He recently launched his new album 'Oscillations' which is out now on iTunes. In 2013 he was selected as the Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz. He was a member of the groups Babu (SAMA Nominee) and Closet Snare, and still works with the Kyle Shepherd Trio (SAMA Nominee) and the Reza Khota Quartet, and has also worked with artists like Zim Ngqawana, Feya Faku, Louis Moholo- Moholo, Malcolm Braff, Jeroen van Vliet, Marcus Wyatt, Soweto Kinch, Melanie Scholtz, Bokani Dyer, Nicky Schrire, Afrika Mkhize, and more.

Awards

Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz 2013. ___ Mail & Guardian's 200 Young South Africans 2013


Tags

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Album Review

Shane Cooper & Mabuta: Finish The Sun

Read "Finish The Sun" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


On Mabuta's debut—Welcome To This World (Afrosynth Records, 2018)—South African bassist, electronic musician and composer Shane Cooper introduced ears to a leading-edge ensemble intent on delivering trippy, dance-friendly designs. Now, with this second album, he doubles down on that core concept, delivering a heap of hip groovers which draw strength from Pan-African influences and ride high in the atmosphere, twirling atop a rotating cast of drummers plucked from points across the eastern hemisphere. Kicking things off with ...

7
Album Review

Skyjack: The Hunter

Read "The Hunter" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann


This South African / Swiss combo might seem like an unlikely pairing on paper, but turns out to be more than fruitful on record. The Hunter represents the sophomore effort by the collaboration between Swiss winds Marc Stucki and Andreas Tschopp and the South African rhythm section made up of Shane Cooper and Kesivan Naidoo on bass and drums. Kyle Shepherd, who is internationally renowned as being among South Africa's leading progressive jazz artists, skillfully handles the keys, shuffling between ...

7
Album Review

Skyjack: The Hunter

Read "The Hunter" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


This second album from South African-Swiss cooperative Skyjack strikes a smart balance between ideation and instinct. Feedback loops fire the imagination of the album's five participants, with input and output acting and reacting to one another in real time. As on the band's eponymous debut, independence and interdependence each play a role in these romping games. There is, however, a noticeable difference between the dates: While risk bridges both endeavors, there's more rejoicing to be found on this sophomore set. ...

7
Album Review

Mabuta: Welcome To This World

Read "Welcome To This World" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


If the eyes are the windows to the soul and a portal opening to reality and closing on dreams, then the eyelids can be seen as the gatekeepers to such worlds. Mabuta--a genre-merging band taking its name from the Japanese word for eyelid--has a keen understanding of that concept. Shane Cooper, the mastermind behind this group, lives and dreams in different musical realms, having carved out his place as one of the premier bassists on the South African jazz scene ...

5
Album Review

Skyjack: Skyjack

Read "Skyjack" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Don't let the name fool you here. There's no hostile takeover at twenty-thousand feet, no violent occupation of a specific vehicle, and no saboteur to wreak havoc on this voyage. Skyjack is a cooperative venture that's about the art of creation and community, not the co-opting of a certain airspace or the pursuit of pure destruction. It's essentially an international musical summit that connects some of South Africa's finest young jazz greats with some strong-minded Swiss talent. ...

5
Album Review

Shane Cooper: Oscillations

Read "Oscillations" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


"South African Jazz" means different things to different people; to some, it's music that's smooth and pacifying, produced by artists like guitarist Jonathan Butler; to others, it's the music of icons like pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and trumpeter Hugh Masekela, both of whom became symbols of freedom during the apartheid era; and to a third group, that term represents a more open-and-modernistic slant on jazz. The list of musicians that fall into that last category include pianist Kyle Shepherd, guitarist Reza ...

2
Take Five With...

Take Five With Shane Cooper

Read "Take Five With Shane Cooper" reviewed by Shane Cooper


Meet Shane Cooper:Shane Cooper is a bassist, composer, and producer from Cape Town, South Africa. Oscillations, with his quintet, is due to be launched on August 22, 2013 at Cape Town's Mahogany Room. In 2012, he was selected as the Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz. Has he been a member of Babu (SAMA Nominee) and Closet Snare. He continues to work with the Kyle Shepherd Trio (SAMA Nominee) and the Reza Khota Quartet. He has also worked ...

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Contest

Enter the "Shane Cooper - Oscillations" Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Enter the "Shane Cooper - Oscillations" Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the “Shane Cooper - Oscillations“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on September 24th. Click here to enter the contest

(Becoming a fan of Shane Cooper at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.)

Good luck! About Oscillations

Shane Cooper, a bassist and composer whose “instrumental voice is distinctively generous and lyrical" (Gwen Ansell, Mail & Guradian) released his debut album, Oscillations, on August ...

"changing the face of jazz while staying true to the genre." (Eyewitness News)

"an eclectic young musician who has rapidly emerged in the jazz world as first- call bassist for serious jazz" (Music Industry Online)

"Whether electric or acoustic, his instrumental voice is distinctively generous and lyrical" (Mail & Guardian)

"Cooper has a long-time interest in original music and genre combinations that stretch the definition of ‘jazz’.” (Mail & Guardian)

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Finish The Sun

Dox Records
2022

buy

Blk Elijah & The...

Ndlela Music
2022

buy

The Hunter

Enja Records
2019

buy

Welcome To This World

Afrosynth Records
2018

buy

Skyjack

Self Produced
2016

buy

Big Sky

From: Oscillations
By Shane Cooper

Videos

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