Buster Cooper


George "Buster" Cooper was an American jazz trombonist.

Career

A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, Cooper played in a territory band with Nat Towles in Texas in the late 1940s and with Lionel Hampton in 1953. He played in the house band at the Apollo Theater in New York City in the mid-1950s, and following this he was in Benny Goodman's band. Late in the 1950s he and his brother Steve formed the Cooper Brothers Band. From 1962 to 1969, he was a trombonist in Duke Ellington's Orchestra. In 1973 he moved to Los Angeles and played in jazz orchestras over the next several decades, including Bill Berry's band and The Capp-Pierce Juggernaut. He led a trio at a restaurant in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Cooper died on May 13, 2016 of prostate cancer in St. Petersburg, Florida at the age of 87.

Discography

As leader

With The Capp-Pierce Juggernaut
With Duke Ellington
With Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington
With Lionel Hampton
With Johnny Hodges
With A. K. Salim
With others