Doc Cook
Doc Cook | |
|---|---|
| Doc Cook, ca. 1910 Doc Cook, ca. 1910 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Doc Cook |
| Born | Charles L. Cooke September 2, 1891 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | December 25, 1958 (aged 67) Wurtsboro, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupations | Musician, bandleader, arranger |
| Labels | Gennett |
Charles L. Cooke (September 3, 1891 – December 25, 1958), known as Doc Cook, was an American jazz bandleader and arranger. Cook was a Doctor of Music, awarded by the Chicago Musical College in 1926.[1]
Life
[edit | edit source]Born in Louisville, he first worked as a composer and arranger in Detroit before moving to Chicago around 1910. Cook became resident leader of the orchestra at Paddy Harmon's Dreamland Ballroom in Chicago from 1922 to 1927, acting as conductor and musical director.
The ensemble recorded under several names, such as Cookie's Gingersnaps, Doc Cook and his 14 Doctors of Syncopation, and Doc Cook's Dreamland Orchestra. Among those who played in Cook's band were Freddie Keppard, Jimmie Noone, Johnny St. Cyr, Zutty Singleton, Joe Poston, Andrew Hilaire, and Luis Russell.[2] After 1927 Cook's orchestra played in Chicago at the Municipal Pier and the White City Ballroom.[3]
In 1930, Cook moved to New York City and worked as an arranger for Radio City Music Hall and RKO, working there into the 1940s.[2] On Broadway, he had a number of important orchestration credits, including The Hot Mikado (1939) and the first U.S. production of The Boy Friend in collaboration with Ted Royal in 1954.[4] A proponent of ragtime, he also worked frequently with Eubie Blake, supplying the arrangements for the 1952 revival of Shuffle Along.[5]
Recordings
[edit | edit source]Cook recorded 6 sides for Gennett in early 1924, as Cook's Dreamland Orchestra , then 4 sides for OKeh in June 1926 as Cookie's Gingersnaps. In July 1926 Doc Cook signed to Columbia, with which recorded 14 sides 6 through March 1928.
1923-27 - Freddie Keppard, The Complete Set 1923-26 (Retrieval RTR79017, 2005). The CD contains the 6 Gennett and the 4 Okeh sides plus 8 Columbia, all with Keppard on cornet.
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Doc Cook at Allmusic.com
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Internet Broadwat Database listing
- ^ Steven Suskin, The Sound of Broadway Music, Oxford University Press, New York, 2009, p. 82 Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Sources
[edit | edit source]External links
[edit | edit source]- Lua error in Module:Internet_Archive at line 573: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Charles L. Cooke at Internet Broadway Database
- Doc Cook discography at Discogs
- Doc Cooke (1891-1958 Red Hot Jazz Archive
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