An obscure member of the jazz royalty, Prince Cooper was born Robert Cooper in Chicago and remained forever associated with that city's music scene. He first made a name for himself professionally following the end of the second World War. He led a trio that was strongly influenced by the sound of pianist and singer Nat King Cole's trio. Charles Truck Parham was the bassist, and guitarist Hurley Ramey filled out the group, which recorded for Exclusive in Los Angeles in 1946 and then with the Windy City's historic Aristocrat label in the fall of the following year. The latter label would eventually evolve into Chess, without a doubt the city's most famous blues labels, and one of the most famous blues labels in the world for that matter. But part of the development of the eventually successful Chess sound was the harder-edged sounds of artists such as Muddy Waters, as well as Chuck Berry's very first rock material. Neither style was Cooper's cup of tea, and his music for many years was even left out in the cold when it came time to compile Chess and Aristocrat reissue material from this era.

In 1951, Cooper kicked off a new trio with guitarist Wilbur Wynne and bassist Jimmy Cosby. This ensemble held a house gig for two years at the Avenue Lounge, one of Chicago's notorious music hangouts. Wynne dropped out to work with the great pianist Ahmad Jamal, replaced by Emmett Spicer. In 1953, Wynne was back with Cooper at a point when the owner of the Avenue Lounge had plans to begin his own record label and feature Cooper's group on this first set of releases. Although this venture was announced in the local newspapers, no evidence of these recordings has ever materialized. In the mid-'50s, Cooper's trio could be found playing at a variety of Chicago nightclubs. A high point in his recording career was a session with the Club 51 label for which his trio was augmented by two top jazz players, Harold Ashby on tenor sax and the deadly James Slaughter on drums. A superb track called The Wiggler shows that by now Cooper was well beyond the Nat King Cole model, or it could be said that he was playing much less Nat-urally. In 1955, Cooper had established himself as something of the house bandleader for the Universal label, appearing on sessions by blues artists such as guitarist Rudy Greene, vocalist Bobbie James, tenor saxophonist Eddie Chamblee, and the rhythm blues vocal group the Four Buddies. In later years, Cooper moved to Elgin, IL, about 30 miles west of Chicago, and played regularly in that town's lounges as well as in other towns along the Fox River. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi