Jessie Allen Cooper shares more than just his name with his ancestors. Not only does he enjoy woodworking, he is a popular musician who forges carefully-crafted jazz on his sixth album, SOUND TRAVELS.

Cooper demonstrates his versatility by performing on saxophone, harmonica and keyboards. His wide-ranging and eclectic musical interests are displayed on SOUND TRAVELS, which primarily falls into the realm of smooth jazz; but on various tracks it also features soaring new age, world-beat percussion, techno-dance rhythms, and funky blues-rock. The album is available in stores
nationwide and online at sites such as amazon.com and his own [www]

For his music, Jessie is the composer, arranger, engineer and producer, but he also brings in some of the best players in the industry to compliment his sound. On SOUND TRAVELS the special guests include percussionist Steve Reid (Miles Davis, The Rippingtons, Supertramp), guitarists Jack Majdecki (Glenn Yarbrough, Tony Morales) and Ira Ingber (Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, The Eagles), keyboardist Steve Katz (Jon Anderson), and bassist Vail Johnson (Stevie Nicks, Kenny G, Warren Hill) among others.

The album includes several melodic smooth jazz tunes ("Full Moon," "Song For You," "Ballad for an Artist" and "Missing You") featuring interplay between Cooper's soprano saxophone and Jim Hale's muted trumpet. "Ever since I heard Miles Davis records in the late Sixties and early Seventies using muted trumpet and saxophone I wanted to explore that sound," Jessie says. SOUND TRAVELS also spotlights several gentle compositions that could fit into the pop/new age genre ("Walkin In The Park," "Waltz for an Artist" and "Tranquility"). A fast-paced techno-beat propels "Dance On" while the sound turns to funky blues-rock on "Groovin Out Back," both featuring Jessie on harmonica. Many of the songs are textured with world-beat percussion sounds (especially congas and dumbek) -- the African-sounding "Rain Dance," the Middle Eastern-influenced "Awakening," and the highly-rhythmic "Heavens Dance."

The front and back covers of SOUND TRAVELS reflect this diversity with photos from many countries superimposed to reflect the music's global influences. The album title has several meanings, and references how the music takes the listener on a journey to many different places.

Although Jessie grew up playing rock'n'roll, blues and R&B, his first album, HEAVEN SENT, was meditative and new age (and features kalimba player Buddy Kithara). It was recorded as live improvisation in a long hallway with a very high ceiling for natural echo (inspired by playing harmonica in empty boxcars and tunnels as a youngster). Cooper's second album, the strong-selling SOFT WAVE, was a popular blend of smooth jazz and new age music on the Narada label and the disc received heavy airplay nationwide. The recording featured musicians such as keyboardists Rick Krizman (Deborah Holland, and TV themes for "Inside Edition" and "American Journal"), Mark Cohen (author of "The Mythical Journey of Rathoshemzi") and Rusty Hamilton (The Jacksons, Barry White, Kool & The Gang); and percussionist Arno Lucas (Al Jarreau, Rickie Lee Jones, Randy Newman).

Cooper made his most complete smooth jazz album with MOMENT IN TIME. Jessie surrounded himself with a team of top players (and recording artists in their own right) including Steve Reid, Russ Freeman (The Rippingtons, Kenny G), Ricardo Silveira (Gilberto Gil, Herbie Mann), Rob Mullins (Branford Marsalis, Kirk Whalum), Steve Bailey (The Rippingtons, David Benoit), Larry Washington (Elton John, The Jacksons), Mike Smith (Bobby Lyle), Osamu Kitajima (Ottmar Liebert, Dan Siegel), Mike Thompson (The Eagles, Alanis Morissette, Rod Stewart), Mark Portmann (The Rippingtons, Celine Dion, Dave Koz) and others.

In 2000, Cooper completed SOUND OF FEELINGS, an ambitious five-CD set (plus a sampler) of varied instrumental music that captures distinctly different emotions (anger, love, depression, happiness, etc.). The music was created specifically to go with the book "Living With Feeling" by best-selling author Lucia Capacchione ("Visioning," "Power of the Other Hand"), who uses the music extensively in her classes and seminars.

Cooper's music also has been included on multi-artist recordings including Hallmark's MUSIC TO SHUT OUT THE RUSH HOUR and SONGS OF THE DOLPHIN, MCA/Sona Gaia's COLLECTION ONE, and Narada's RADIOACTIVE and NUAGES SAMPLER.