Cooper-Moore

Cooper-Moore (born Gene Ashton in Virginia in 1946) is an American pianist, composer and instrument builder based in New York, active in free jazz since the early 1970s. Alongside the piano he plays instruments of his own making, such as the ashimba (a wooden xylophone), the diddley-bow, a three-string fretless banjo and the mouth bow. He took the name Cooper-Moore from the surnames of his grandmothers. In 1970 Cooper-Moore formed the trio Apogee with saxophonist David S. Ware and drummer Marc Edwards, and in 1973 the three moved to New York.