"Jazz-Rock Style Captivates Crowd at Lynndover Inn"    

By Chris Thomas

Guitarist Cooper Tisdale from Atlanta captivated the crowd with a jazz-rock styles seldom, if ever, heard in this area before. 

Tisdale, 29, is a classically trained musician who has the talent to make a major name for himself in the music industry. He is currently playing with Nancee Kahler and The Open Sky instrumental group around the southern states and has written a number of pieces with an eye to a recording contract. 

How does a musician from Atlanta find his way to Port Dover? Quite simply. Tisdale has relatives who live in the area and is friends with local music promoter Peter Ramsey of Fishfly Productions who make the Lynndover booking. 

His weeked gig in Port Dover also re-acquainted him with local bass player John Blume, who accompanied him along with guitarist Ian Ross and drummer Daryl Porter. 

Tisdale recalled that Blume taught him "Stairway to Heaven" at the age of 14 when he first picked up the guitar and "to complete the circle" he found Ramsey's son Ty is playing the same piece on keyboard these days. 

Although raised in the south, a hotbed of hard-driving rock and roll, Tisdale found he was drawn to more progressive styles of contemporary music. He did admit to liking KISS as a teenager, but hastened to add, "I've grown out of that phase." 

I realize at age 16 or 17 that it was important to listen to different things," he said, "You can find good in anything." 

Having decided on music as a career, Tisdale set out to get a solid grounding for his craft. He took classical guitar courses at colleges both in Georgia and California, which honed his playing techniques and, equally as important, taught him the discipline required to be a "serious" musician. 

However, the tightly structured classical music style did not appeal to him. 

Tisdale found fusion jazz to be an ideal outlet for his creative and performing bent. He is able to combine different styles that can best be described as jazz-rock and borrows from anyone "who plays with some soul and some intelligence." 

Currently, Tisdale is travelling a great deal playing in clubs and festivals in the United States. 

"It's a tough lifestyle," he said, but added, "I'm a positive person and I enjoy it for what it is." 

Tisdale's goal is simply to make a comfortable living playing and writing original music, but for the moment he is content to pay his dues. 

"I don't know where it's going to go, but hopefully I'll keep getting better," he said.