The band became known as The British All Stars and its nucleus originally included
Jim Bray on bass and the remarkable but wayward pianist Bert Murray,about whom many unprintable stories abound.Guest trumpeters included Alan Elsdon,Andy Dickens,Ken Sims,Mike Peters,Ben Cohen and Ray Crane over the years and eventually Ray Smith replaced Bert on piano with sometimes Johnny Parker taking over and Rae Owens joining on bass.

Featured guests included Diz Disley,Keith Nichols and most notably Bruce Turner whose wonderfully quirky style on and off-stage perfectly complemented Coops.In his memoirs,Hot Air,Cool Music,Bruce wrote wistfully about their early encounters when he was with Freddy Randall , Coops was still playing with the Yorkshire Jazz Band and they appeared on the same bill together:`Whatever Alan Cooper did was greeted with rapturous acclaim.Then it would be the Randall band’s turn,and my clarinet solos had this curious effect of silencing the vociferous crowd.It was as if I had barged in on a private party and been coldly requested to leave.This was hard to take,considering the wild reception my rival,Alan Cooper,was always guaranteed to receive.I turned to Fred for advice.`I can’t think what this guy is doing that’s so special,’he replied,

`I suppose you could try bobbing up and down the way he does.All I know is,he’s stealing all the applause.’ Bruce concluded: `neither of us ever found out what the Cooper sound was,or how it could be achieved.’
On a later tour Tony Pyke’s ethereal alto also proved an admirable foil for Cooper’s limpid clarinet . Another unforgettable occasion featured Jimmy Edwards as our special guest with his array of brass instruments. He and Coops got on famously with Jim,as a trained musician,being amazed by Alan’s eloquently poetic improvisations.He could also perform a wicked parody of Stranger On The Shore(`Strangler…’) at times but it was said that Acker had heard it and approved!

On all these trips,Coops was the first to venture into the local markets -or souks-clad in desert boots and sun hat and would emerge with all sorts of exotic souvenirs , camera slung around his neck, having taken numerous shots of any local landmarks that appealed to his ever-voracious aesthetic tastes .Once, we were playing in an Abu Dhabi hotel where an expat family were celebrating a wedding. They were so enthralled by Alan’s (Or `The Professor’ as he was often called) articulate oration in presenting our show that he was invited to conduct their reception and accepted with alacrity using such arcane words as ‘perforce’ to great effect as only he could!In fact,we discovered to our delight a local product in Bahrain called `Cooper’s Pif-Paf’- a spray designed to dispose of insects- so we used to whisper to Coops on occasions requiring verbosity: `Give them a burst of pif-paf’!

Picture: Prof Jimmy Edwards got on famously with Coops.

Continued on Farewell 4