The tough town that this CD's title refers to is Chicago, where
Jim Cooper had played quite a bit in the 1970s and 1980s before Delmark recorded him as a leader in the early 1990s. Delmark had always been great about documenting Windy City jazzmen who were well respected locally but little known elsewhere, and one of the many examples was
Cooper, a swinging, enjoyable vibist whose main influences were
Bobby Hutcherson and
Milt Jackson. One of
Cooper's greatest assets on this decent post-bop/hard bop release is multi-hornman
Ira Sullivan, who sticks to the tenor sax this time and brings a lot of charisma to material ranging from
Charlie Parker's "Cheryl" to such
Cooper originals as the sophisticated "Waltz for Betty" and the
Hutcherson-ish title song. Other Chicago residents on board include pianist
Bob Dogan, bassist
Dan DeLorenzo and drummer
Charlie Braugham. Although
Tough Town didn't make
Cooper a big name internationally, it was nice to hear him documented on CD. ~ Alex Henderson
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