Biography

Matt Cooper was a key figure in the music revolution that rebooted jazz with digital beats in 1990s London. Recorded under the name Outside, his 1993 debut album ‘Almost In’ marked him out as a precociously gifted instrumentalist, writer and arranger. It was released on experimental label Dorado — a contemporary of Talkin’ Loud, Acid Jazz, Mo’Wax and Ninja Tune that was founded by Ollie Buckwell. At the heart of the new scene was Gilles Peterson and James Lavelle’s club night That's How It Is. Outside were mainstays, and went on to make five ground-breaking albums in eight years. Just 20 when he made ‘Almost In’, Cooper was a prodigy on both keyboards and drums, driven by a hunger to create something new. More recently Cooper teamed up with UK soul act Incognito and is now their musical director. He has also worked as a musical director and instrumentalist for artists including: Chaka Khan; Jocelyn Brown; Whitney Houston; David Sylvian; Cee-Lo Green; Paul Weller; Terry Callier; Leon Ware; Marlene Shaw; Freddie Hubbard, and Ronnie Laws. Most recently, he has been collaborating with Gilles Peterson and Incognito’s Bluey on their STR4TA project. Now autumn 2022 sees Cooper back as a solo artist, creating music once again as Outside on the Dorado imprint. The result is a work of clean lines and pared-down elegance: ‘like downtempo drum’n’bass,’ as its composer describes it. ‘I’ve evolved the mixture of modern and retro,’ he says. ‘That’s the Outside sound.’