IF I’M NOT HOME: RON COOPER, A JAZZ LIFE

Ron Cooper, Chicago jazz vocalist, pianist, drummer and songwriter, almost succeeded in burying his own legend. A peerless scat-singer who performed in clubs including the venerable Green Mill, he struggled with alcoholism and homelessness in his final years, often alternating gigs with hours of dozing on an el car because he had nowhere else to go. In the course of making IF I’M NOT HOME, filmmaker Grove and fellow musicians befriended Cooper, encouraging and recording for posterity a career that still had brilliance left to shine. The film includes some remarkable late career performances in the course of telling Cooper’s story, as well as interviews with a range of Chicago jazz insiders. HDCAM video. (BS)