Cooper-Moore (born Gene Y. Ashton; August 31, 1946) is an American jazz pianist, composer and instrument builder/designer based in New York City. Early life At age 12, Cooper-Moore was recruited by community leaders to be the piano player for the town, and soon thereafter performed at church services and community functions. This is also the age when he heard musicians such as Ahmad Jamal and Charles Mingus, and was inspired to pursue jazz. He has cited pianist Jaki Byard's contributions to Mingus' band as a particular inspiration. He moved to Boston in 1967 to briefly attend Berklee College of Music. In Boston he connected with many musicians, some of whom became longtime collaborators, notably saxophonist David S. Ware, drummer Marc Edwards, Cleve Pozar, and Juma Santos. In 1970, he formed a collective trio, Apogee, with Ware and Edwards. Career In 1973, the trio of Cooper-Moore, David S. Ware, and Marc Edwards moved to New York City and established a living and performance space at 501 Canal Street, which served as a home base for musicians including Ware, Alan Michael Braufman, Jimmy Hopps, Tom Bruno, and Ellen Christi. Cooper-Moore's first commercial recording appearance was on Braufman's Valley of Search LP, released by India Navigation. Encouraged by Jimmy Hopps, Cooper-Moore began to design and build instruments, beginning with an ashimba, an 11-note xylophone made from discarded wood. In 1975, he returned to Virginia with his family. There he worked with bands from a variety of genres, continued to further develop an array of handmade instruments, and worked as an educator with the Head Start program. Upon his return to New York City in 1985, he changed his name to Cooper-Moore, derived from the surnames of his grandmothers. Cooper-Moore has performed and recorded with William Parker's In Order to Survive and Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra and Bill Cole's Untempered Ensemble. He established, recorded, and toured with Triptych Myth, a piano trio with Tom Abbs and Chad Taylor. He has recorded and toured extensively with Digital Primitives, a trio with Chad Taylor and Assif Tsahar. He has also collaborated with Daniel Carter in Parker's Organic Trio. He performs solo on piano and handcrafted instruments, with the Cooper-Moore Trio with Brian Price and Pascal Niggenkemper, and in Gerald Cleaver's Black Host. He has performed at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in a piano duo with John Blum in 1996, and a solo performance