Junior Cook

[Tom 1960]

I'm really coming to appreciate Junior Cook's playing after recently purchasing Horace Silver's "Blowin' The Blues Away" and "Finger Poppin'". So what I'm asking at this point, what further sessions featuring Junior should I also be made aware of? I should also add I already own "Song For My Father". Thanks as always.

[kh1958]

I'm really coming to appreciate Junior Cook's playing after recently purchasing Horace Silver's "Blowin' The Blues Away" and "Finger Poppin'". So what I'm asking at this point, what further sessions featuring Junior should I also be made aware of? I should also add I already own "Song For My Father". Thanks as always.

He sounds great on Horace Silver's Paris Blues.

[Brad]

I'd recommend Junior's Cookin from the Fantasy label. Really cookin' cd (no pun intended). Wasn't terribly crazy about the Steeple Chase ones but You Leave Me Breathless with Valery Ponomarev is really top notch.

[mikeweil]

Saw him live with the band he co-led with Bill Hardman - great, and very nice person. Check out the Blue Mitchell-Junior Cook dates they recorded after leaving Horace, starting with The Cup Bearers on Riverside.

His later Muse albums were all very good, no matter if as a leader or sideman.

[ValerieB]

Saw him live with the band he co-led with Bill Hardman - great, and very nice person. Check out the Blue Mitchell-Junior Cook dates they recorded after leaving Horace, starting with The Cup Bearers on Riverside.

His later Muse albums were all very good, no matter if as a leader or sideman.

you've named some of my favorites!

[kh1958]

Freddie Hubbard--Keep Your Soul Together (CTI).

[Dan Gould]

I'd recommend Junior's Cookin from the Fantasy label. Really cookin' cd (no pun intended). Wasn't terribly crazy about the Steeple Chase ones but You Leave Me Breathless with Valery Ponomarev is really top notch.

Count me as a fan of the Steeplechase releases.

[sidewinder]

The band with Woody Shaw - on 'Ichi-Ban' (or was it 'Itchy- Ban'? )

[Soulstation1]

Emusic Pimpin' Junior Is Cookin'

[Larry Kart]

IIRC the Muse period, as leader and sideman, was Cook's time of maximum ripeness. Fine music.

[catesta]

I'd recommend Junior's Cookin from the Fantasy label. Really cookin' cd (no pun intended). Wasn't terribly crazy about the Steeple Chase ones but You Leave Me Breathless with Valery Ponomarev is really top notch.

Junior's Cookin' =

I like this one with Horace Silver as well.

[Spontooneous]

The Clifford Jordan-Junior Cook "Two Tenor Winner" on Criss Cross has some very fine Junior.

[Chuck Nessa]

From personal experience and word from other folks working with him - he was a soloist with little or no ideas about presenting himself or his music. Absolutely nothing wrong with that (in fact I admire it). The Silver records and the later Muse stuff is a great monument to his life.

Edited April 18, 2007 by Chuck Nessa

[marcello]

A favorite player of mine; always solid.

There was a time when I heard a lot of the Bill Hardman / Junior Cook Quintet in NYC. Mickey Tucker and Billy Higgins were in the band also.

[Dan Gould]

Don't forget that most of his Muse albums were not as a leader. He's on all three of Bill Hardman's dates, Home, Focus, and Politely.

[Chuck Nessa]

Don't forget that most of his Muse albums were not as a leader. He's on all three of Bill Hardman's dates, Home, Focus, and Politely.

He did two of his own.

[Michael Weiss]

Saw him live with the band he co-led with Bill Hardman - great, and very nice person.

Was that in the fall of 1986 perhaps?

[Eric]

Don't forget that most of his Muse albums were not as a leader. He's on all three of Bill Hardman's dates, Home, Focus, and Politely.

He did two of his own.

I just found a copy of a leader sesson on Catalyst - quartet IIRC - about the same time as the Muse sessions.

Hey Mosaic, how about the complete Junior Cook, Bill Hardman and Mickey Tucker Muse sessions?

[brownie]

Saw him live with the band he co-led with Bill Hardman - great, and very nice person.

Was that in the fall of 1986 perhaps?

I caught that group In New York at the Mark Morganelli club on 23rd Street. Must have been in the early '80s.

Walter Bishop was on piano, Leroy Williams on drums. Can't remember who was on bass! Very nice band.

The Hardman-Cook group were regulars at the place!

And I was privileged to enjoy the brand new Horace Silver group with Cook, Blue Mitchell and a very young Louis Hayes when they played at the Club Saint-Germain in 1959.

Cook and the Silver bandmates were really cookin'...

[BFrank]

Don't forget that most of his Muse albums were not as a leader. He's on all three of Bill Hardman's dates, Home, Focus, and Politely.

He did two of his own.

I just found a copy of a leader sesson on Catalyst - quartet IIRC - about the same time as the Muse sessions.

Hey Mosaic, how about the complete Junior Cook, Bill Hardman and Mickey Tucker Muse sessions?

Needless to say, he's all over the Blue Mitchell Mosaic box. It's OOP, but usually sells for reasonable prices on ebay.

Funny, I was listening to "Junior's Cookin' " today.

My first ever jazz concert was Freddie Hubbard in the early 70's and he was on tenor at the time.

[sal]

I've enjoyed all the Horace Silver recordings that feature him, as well as the Blue Mitchell's.

[Jim R]

Don't forget that most of his Muse albums were not as a leader. He's on all three of Bill Hardman's dates, Home, Focus, and Politely.

He did two of his own.

Three, actually.

[Dan Gould]

Brain cramp, Jim?

We're talking about Muse albums and you've posted his Steeplechase covers.

[Jim R]

Brain cramp, Jim?

We're talking about Muse albums and you've posted his Steeplechase covers.

What brain?

Wow.

[mikeweil]

Saw him live with the band he co-led with Bill Hardman - great, and very nice person.

Was that in the fall of 1986 perhaps?

No, it was October 3, 1978 (I still kept records about the concerts I attended at the time) - Bill Hardman, Junior Cook, Hugh Lawson, Yoshio "Chin" Suzuki, and Steve Phillips (very nice drummer that I never heard of again. The Doug Hammond Trio with Marvin Blackman and Hal Dodson was in the audience, and Cook insisted that Blackman take his sax and blow some chorusses - fascinating to hear how different two players sound on the same instrument. I was pretty close with Doug at the time, and he introduced me to the whole band. It was like in a New York club!