A Magical Approach was released by the Mutable Music label in 2010, and is recommended as an introduction to the inspired individualism of percussionist
Jerome Cooper, who plainly states that his music cannot be categorized. This man's philosophy and his intuitive methodology are directly related to membership in the
Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a society based in his hometown of Chicago. Long admired for his collaborations with internationally acclaimed masters of free jazz and collective improvisation, Cooper began concentrating on performing as a soloist during the late '70s and was still at it 30 years later. His primary innovation was to augment the standard American drum kit with the balafon, a small African xylophone equipped with gourd resonators; it is the ancestor of the modern marimba. Placing this instrument securely on top of the snare drum,
Cooper weaves rhythmic patterns and generates crosscurrents with a combination of balafon, bass drum, and hi-hat or sock cymbal. That is what was used to generate the remarkable sounds heard on the first track of
A Magical Approach. Recorded at Environ in New York City on April 14, 1978, this nearly 18-minute percussion excursion is actually only the first half of an LP issued in 1982 as
Root Assumptions. So the original piece goes on for nearly 15 additional minutes.