By E. Joyce Glasgow, www.artsandculturescene.com
For jazz lovers who revel in deep listening and the thrill and excitement of hearing gorgeous collaborations played by seasoned musicians who embody, through collective decades of experience, the great, historic influences of mid-20th and 21st century jazz, then you must not miss The Cookers live.
This musically wise septet of veteran jazz musicians, who have produced five critically acclaimed recordings together, play with presence, confidence, originality, assertion, cohesion, powerful energy and fluid, engaging improvisation. This ensemble elegantly surfs a wave of abstracted, straight ahead and post hard bop jazz. Their playing is crisp, clear and demonstrative.
The Cookers will be performing, in Seattle, for one night only, at The Jazz Alley, on Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at 7:30 PM. www.jazzalley.com
If you have children who love jazz and are learning to play or sing, bring them to hear these wonderful musicians for a rare opportunity to experience an impressive and fabulous advanced tutorial on the music that will be highly inspiring. Minors are allowed at the Jazz Alley for this early evening set.
Pianist and composer, George Cables, is well-known to Seattle and Western Washington audiences for his numerous performances in Seattle and years of teaching students and performing at the Port Townsend Jazz Festival. He has played with a range of historic jazz greats including Sonny Rollins, Sarah Vaughn, Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Haynes, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey. Cables leads his own trio, works with other ensembles and is a clinician in college jazz programs.
Tenor saxophonist and composer, Billy Harper, leads his own quintet, teaches and lectures at universities, is an alumnus of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and has played with Gil Evans, Max Roach, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Lee Morgan and other jazz leaders.
Bassist, composer and Grammy winner, Cecil McBee, has traveled the world with numerous jazz luminaries including Betty Carter, Charles Lloyd, McCoy Tyner, Bennie Goodman, Bobby Hutcherson, Dinah Washington, Pharaoh Sanders, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Nancy Wilson, Keith Jarrett, Alice Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard and Abdullah Ibrahim. He teaches privately and at colleges and universities.
Drummer and composer, Billy Hart, has played with Wes Montgomery, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Stan Getz, Eddie Harris, Pharaoh Sanders and others and leads his own quartet.
Trumpeter, composer and medical doctor, Eddie Henderson, received his first informal trumpet lesson at age nine, from Louis Armstrong. He has played with Herbie Hancock, Pharaoh Sanders, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Elvin Jones, Max Roach, Joe Henderson, Slide Hampton, Roy Haynes and others, as well as fronting his own bands.
Trumpeter, composer and arranger, David Weiss, has played with Freddie Hubbard, Charles Tolliver, Geri Allen, James Moody, Muhal Richard Abrams, Louis Hayes, Frank Foster, Jimmy Heath and others. He founded the New Jazz Composers Octet and leads several of his own ensembles. The Cookers was one of his special projects and he solidified the band's personnel in 2007 into the powerhouse working group that it is today. Weiss does the rearranging for the band's repertoire of original compositions by Cables, Harper and McBee.
New Orlean's alto saxophonist and composer, Donald Harrison, has played with Lena Horne, Miles Davis, Dr. John, McCoy Tyner, Eddie Palmieri, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Billy Cobham, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and many others. He co-wrote the soundtrack for the feature film, "Rachel's Getting Married", in which he played himself, was featured in Spike Lee's HBO documentary about Hurricane Katrina "When the Levees Broke" and aspects of his life and music are chronicled in the HBO series "Treme", for which he was a character consultant and appeared as himself in eleven episodes. Harrison teaches at the college level and is the founder of the New Jazz School for students thirteen to eighteen and is co-founder and artistic director of Tipitina's Intern Program, which is a college preparatory and professional music training program for junior and senior high school students, both in New Orleans. Harrison has won numerous, international music awards, from France, Japan, Switzerland and in the U.S.
Here is a video of a live streamed performance by The Cookers, at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, NYC, Jazz Live at Lincoln Center.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pohNagO_jQ&list=RD6pohNagO_jQ&start_radio=1&t=2320
