His mother (Georgie Cooper) was a professional keyboardist, and numerous musicians visited their house to rehearse and give recitals; his Godfather (Robert Voris) was one of those.

[6][7][8] Voris was one of the first vocal soloists (baritone) with the William Hall Master Chorale in the late 1950s and at one point recorded a LP of classical art song with his mother in October 1963, just 5 months after Cooper was born.

During the 1980s Cooper heard and played a great deal of Charles Ives works in music school such as the Country Band March, The Unanswered Question, The Camp-Meeting, and his other symphonies.

He went on to work professionally as a full-time jazz musician for about 6 years and then entered the University of Texas at Austin to do a doctorate in music composition.

Along with Ives, a great love of his is writing for large jazz groups such as what Fletcher Henderson, Ellington, Basie, Gil Evans, etc.

"[14] In 1997 Cooper undertook a dissertation project to find music suitable for jazz orchestra that would push the boundaries of how to orchestrate in that idiom.

Charles Ives music was decided upon due to the composer's distinctly American style and approach to melodically and harmonically challenging material.

[22] Due to lack of funding the project fell through but the whole album of eight of Ives songs arranged for a jazz orchestra had been completed by Cooper.

Bonilla was careful to contract musicians that both had high level skills as ensemble players as well as being some of the most adept and known jazz soloists in New York.

The demanding level of the music and solo spaces proved required this; there was limited time to rehearse and record the entire CD during April 2–6 of 2014.

The remainder of the budget needed ($18,750) was obtained through the crowd funding site Indiegogo during a highly successful campaign during 25 days in June 2014.

[1][8][25][26] As part of that fundraising initiative a category of pledges was developed to lend an important educational aspect to production and support of the project.

A donor gave $3000 (part of the Indiegogo) in order to have Cooper visit the University of Northern Iowa campus on April 8–10, 2015, and work with the jazz ensemble in the School of Music.

The cover is entitled "The Housatanic at Stockbridge" taken in the mid-summer of 2014, directly related to the Charles Ives' work and the third movement of Three Places in New England.

[29] The austere colors of forest green, gray, black and white perfectly match the vision the album producers/artists were aiming for with the release of Mists.

[35] The harmonic and rhythmic ideas used are jazz and fusion but the formal layout is borrowed strictly from classical music, modified from the 14th-century French Rondeau poetry form.

The middle of the arrangement is converted into a bossa nova and again was an exercise in new harmonic concepts taken from Ives' work.Ives had a love for American hymns and transforming them into his own work.

[42] The first unveiling of the Mists: Charles Ives for Jazz Orchestra CD was to a Memphis NARAS chapter audience on June 26, 2014, at the Stax Museum.

These recordings preserve the essence of classics like 'Mists,' 'The Cage,' and 'At the River' while offering a fresh, modern reinterpretation for Ives fans and jazz enthusiasts alike.

"[1] Critic Roland Schmenner (Fidellty HiFi und Musik Zeitschrift, Germany) details the extensive background of the Third Stream approach in his feature article from April 8, 2016.

"[55] While the vast majority or reactions were very positive, the music and media critic Tom Hull found the recording lacking, "big band Charles Ives, postmodern but third stream only in that it could use some swing.

"[75] The recording has gained notoriety among composers to include Scott Healy who wrote an extensive blog entry outlining the significance of the work and provides analysis of one of the Ives adaptations.

Frank Griffith of the London Jazz News remarks, "...Top solos abound from the likes of Billy Drewes and Ivan Renta on saxophone, trumpeter Jim Seeley, pianist, Randy Ingram as well as veteran VJO lead trombonist, John Mosca.

"[52] George Harris of Jazz Weekly recognizes other important soloists and individual efforts made by key players, "...Panoramic themes are able to swing on Mists which also includes rich solos by Stafford and Evan Renta/ts.

A bluesy cadence feels right (on At The River) with Luis Bonilla’s trombone...you even get some smoky B3 (Randy Ingram) on The Cage, with Vince Cherico driving the band with his drums like a scene from Ben Hur.

[83] Even with misunderstandings by certain radio stations, Mists did well in major markets in the United States; most notably New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

…these songs are simply breathtaking.”[84] Award winning Bay area jazz disc jockey Bradley Stone noted, "...what a gorgeous CD!

[85] ”Watchman” (track 6) was also chosen for the BBC Radio 3 Jazz Line for the week of November 1, 2014, giving the album significant visibility in the U.K. during that time.

[53] The jazz disc jockey Jan Johansen of Riviera FM in Torbay, England, continues to regularly feature the recording on his ‘The Arrangers Touch’ show on Sunday evenings.