Junior Cook

[kh1958]

The Freddie Hubbard-Junior Cook quintet is in strong form on the new Jazz Icons DVD. It's really good.

[Jim Alfredson]

[Eric]

Cook is on three of these (all but the 1969 date). A few sound issues on one of the dates (keys, not horns), but otherwise they smoke. Very much worth hearing.

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/freddie-hubbard/

Edited January 4, 2012 by Eric

[David Ayers]

Nice thread.

Nice LP.

[king ubu]

new voice of consent?

Got to dig up that Patterson twofer, Jim - that one smokes!

[Michael Weiss]

New biography just released.

Have Horn, Will Travel: The Life and Music of Herman "Junior" Cook by Courtney M. Nero

https://www.amazon.com/Have-Horn-Will-Travel-Musician/dp/157441982X

 

[bertrand]

16 hours ago, Michael Weiss said:

New biography just released.

Have Horn, Will Travel: The Life and Music of Herman "Junior" Cook by Courtney M. Nero

https://www.amazon.com/Have-Horn-Will-Travel-Musician/dp/157441982X

 

Is it worthwhile? I do not know this author.

[Peter Friedman]

As Bertrand said.

I like Junior Cook's playing a lot. Would love to get some reviews of this book before laying out the money.

[Dan Gould]

I helped the author - providing recordings and photos - so I plan to pick this up probably out of Christmas Amazon gift card.  I don't know if it will be at the top of my reading stack but I will post when I get to it.

BTW I started a thread in the Jazz in Print subforum.

[Dan Gould]

On 12/17/2025 at 11:56 AM, bertrand said:

Is it worthwhile? I do not know this author.

 

On 12/17/2025 at 3:13 PM, Peter Friedman said:

As Bertrand said.

I like Junior Cook's playing a lot. Would love to get some reviews of this book before laying out the money.

I received and have read first 40 pages (covering his early life in Pensacola, first move to NYC, and second move to NYC and tenure with Horace Silver).  Easily recommended overall.  There are a few statements I'd take issue with or facts that I would have expressed differently (that "Nica's Dream" was first recorded by KB on K.B.'s Blues - yes, but if K.B. Blues wasn't even released until 1979 in Japan, shouldn't that be mentioned?)

 

The author is a saxophonist inspired by Cook.  His writing is decent though I think some paragraphs get a little ungainly.  He isn't deep into nitty gritty of the music though there are interesting discussions of how Cook compared to Mobley in Silver's band, and then Cook to JoeHen. Put it this way: musical commentary isn't offputting to this non-musician.

What this is, so far, is a deeply researched compilation of contemporaneous commentary on Cook supplemented with interviews of people like Cuscuna and others. I am sure it will be the go-to source for those interested in Junior Cook as it brings it all together in one place and has new material as well.

[Peter Friedman]

15 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

 

I received and have read first 40 pages (covering his early life in Pensacola, first move to NYC, and second move to NYC and tenure with Horace Silver).  Easily recommended overall.  There are a few statements I'd take issue with or facts that I would have expressed differently (that "Nica's Dream" was first recorded by KB on K.B.'s Blues - yes, but if K.B. Blues wasn't even released until 1979 in Japan, shouldn't that be mentioned?)

 

The author is a saxophonist inspired by Cook.  His writing is decent though I think some paragraphs get a little ungainly.  He isn't deep into nitty gritty of the music though there are interesting discussions of how Cook compared to Mobley in Silver's band, and then Cook to JoeHen. Put it this way: musical commentary isn't offputting to this non-musician.

What this is, so far, is a deeply researched compilation of contemporaneous commentary on Cook supplemented with interviews of people like Cuscuna and others. I am sure it will be the go-to source for those interested in Junior Cook as it brings it all together in one place and has new material as well.

Dan,

Thanks for the review . I intend to order a copy soon.

[Dan Gould]

One egregious error I've spotted.  Joe Albany (piano) is listed with Benny Green and David Hazeltine in a list of younger players who took part in regular jam sessions at a place called the Star Cafe.

I mean, egregious unless there was another Joe Albany in NYC in the 80s?  Cause Joe Albany was performing as a trio and Joe Albany's New Yorkers at The West End.

[Michael Weiss]

On 12/20/2025 at 9:09 PM, Dan Gould said:

One egregious error I've spotted.  Joe Albany (piano) is listed with Benny Green and David Hazeltine in a list of younger players who took part in regular jam sessions at a place called the Star Cafe.

I mean, egregious unless there was another Joe Albany in NYC in the 80s?  Cause Joe Albany was performing as a trio and Joe Albany's New Yorkers at The West End.

As a "younger" regular at the Star Cafe perhaps my name should have been substituted for Joe Albany, although I did meet him there. He showed up on a couple of occasions.

[Dan Gould]

34 minutes ago, Michael Weiss said:

As a "younger" regular at the Star Cafe perhaps my name should have been substituted for Joe Albany, although I did meet him there. He showed up on a couple of occasions.

That definitely makes sense ... a decent editor would have caught it especially for a book in a Lives of Musicians series.

[Rooster_Ties]

On 12/20/2025 at 3:47 PM, Dan Gould said:

…there are interesting discussions of how Cook compared to Mobley in Silver's band, and then Cook to JoeHen.

That definitely sounds like an interesting area for exploration and explanation/analysis.

I’ve only recently come to the conclusion that Cook (plus Mitchell, with an honorable mention to Louis Smith) were really the best — and maybe even ideal — front-line for Horace.

I slept on Horace quite a bit for a decade or two because — for me — I usually found his albums with JoeHen slightly lacking. Don’t want to overstate that — but for me they never seemed to quite click as well/hard as I felt they should.

But it’s only been in the last half-dozen-years that I went back and really spent some time with the Mitchell/Cook Silver band — which ON PAPER (for me) always seemed like it ought to have been somehow ‘lesser’ than the Silver albums that came after Mitchell/Cook.

(And that’s entirely my own biases that frankly let me come to that utterly wrong conclusion.)

Now I think Cook maybe did some of his very best work with Silver — and those bands with him were among the best things Silver ever recorded.

[Peter Friedman]

1 hour ago, Rooster_Ties said:

That definitely sounds like an interesting area for exploration and explanation/analysis.

I’ve only recently come to the conclusion that Cook (plus Mitchell, with an honorable mention to Louis Smith) were really the best — and maybe even ideal — front-line for Horace.

I slept on Horace quite a bit for a decade or two because — for me — I usually found his albums with JoeHen slightly lacking. Don’t want to overstate that — but for me they never seemed to quite click as well/hard as I felt they should.

But it’s only been in the last half-dozen-years that I went back and really spent some time with the Mitchell/Cook Silver band — which ON PAPER (for me) always seemed like it ought to have been somehow ‘lesser’ than the Silver albums that came after Mitchell/Cook.

(And that’s entirely my own biases that frankly let me come to that utterly wrong conclusion.)

Now I think Cook maybe did some of his very best work with Silver — and those bands with him were among the best things Silver ever recorded.

You made no mention of the Horace Silver Band with Mobley. I find it a close call between the Bands with Cook and with Mobley.  I prefer both to the the ones that came later.