DETROIT, MI (October 14, 2005) – Wayne State’s Jazz Lab I Big Band, under the direction of Chris Collins, will open their 2005-06 concert series at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 8, 2005 in WSU’s Schaver Recital Hall with a performance of guest composer and WSU alumnus John Cooper’s original big band charts. Cooper’s Quintet will also perform music from his CD album “Watching for Watchung Plaza”. There will also be a special memorial dedication to the late Mel Wanzo (1930-2005), former Count Basie Orchestra Lead Trombonist and WSU jazz mentor. The recital hall is located at 480 W. Hancock in Detroit. Tickets are $5 and $8 and may be purchased at-the-door. For additional information call (313) 577-1795.

The John Cooper Quintet members are Cooper, trumpet, Chris Collins, tenor sax, Matt Michaels, piano, Jeff Halsey, bass, and David Taylor, drums. “…Cooper has employed a band of first-rate Detroiters…who realize his music with the kind of focus and care that suggests a great deal of respect for their leader” – Mark Stryker, Free Press Music Critic. The Quintet will also feature guest artist Rob Pipho on vibraphone.

Stryker also says that Cooper plays “…in a comfortable and savvy post-bop idiom that puts a premium on melodic and harmonic integrity and rhythmic vitality. Cooper\'s got a fat, juicy sound, solid technique and biting articulation that brings to mind several trumpet heroes without aping any single musician. Likewise, his nine originals betray a fluent assimilation of ideas: The bluesy boogaloo on the title track winks at Horace Silver; the quirky melodic-harmonic choices in "Thadish" suggest Thad Jones\' impish wit.” Cooper, Livonia resident, is a 1987 graduate of the WSU Department of Music.