Biography
Echford Cooper, who performed and recorded as Lee Cooper, stands as a frequently neglected yet remarkably skilled blues guitarist whose most productive era unfolded amid Chicago clubs and studios tied to Chess and assorted other imprints. He first picked up the instrument locally during the 1940s and soon displayed enough command of the electric guitar to appear on Chess sessions beginning in the early 1950s. When Big Bill Broonzy and Washboard Sam convened for joint dates in 1953, Cooper supplied the electric guitar parts, layering Broonzy’s established approach with forceful, forward-looking phrases that the late Cub Koda judged as foreshadowing Chuck Berry’s arrival at Chess two years later. His command of Chicago’s assertive guitar idiom quickly positioned him as the initial replacement for Willie Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf’s first lead player. Once Wolf relocated to Chicago for recording, Cooper’s lines were paired with the singer’s singular delivery across the celebrated mid-’50s Chess tracks later compiled on Wolf’s debut albums. Hubert Sumlin eventually took over the role, yet Cooper’s contributions remained distinctive on those early sides. Additional dates found him supporting Jimmy Witherspoon, Big Walter Horton, and further Chess regulars of the period, with occasional calls from competing labels including Parrot. Because session players went largely uncredited and few blues artists saw LP releases before the 1960s, Cooper never attained the recognition later accorded Sumlin and comparable figures. Eddie Boyd, however, singled him out for particular esteem; in a 1971 Blues Unlimited interview Boyd named Cooper the “best” guitarist in his bands and added, “He could play anything playable.”