Richard Cook (journalist)

Richard Cook ( born February 7, 1957 in Kew, London, † August 25, 2007 ) was a British jazz journalist and author.

Life

Cook was born the son of a teacher, whose 78s record collection already pointed the way for his later career. He decided, despite good scores against studying and began in the 1970s (initially part-time ) as a music journalist for the magazine " NME ", where he was employed on a permanent beginning of the 1980s. He wrote it not only jazz but across the entire spectrum of popular music.

1985 to 1992 he was editor of the experimental magazine " The Wire" and the associated editor for publishing " Quartet Books ." He also wrote about jazz for example, in "The Sunday Times " (later the " New Statesman " ) and hosted a weekly jazz program on the radio station GLR (later also for "Jazz FM" ). Between 1992 and 1997 he was responsible for the jazz program of " UK Polygram Records " where he produced, inter alia albums of British modern jazz newly brought out ( " Redial " series) and the trumpeter Guy Barker.

He was also editor of " Jazz Review " and author of several standard works on jazz ( and Others 2001 a history of Blue Note Records ) and the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (together with Brian Morton ). Cook was also co-author of a play ("A sparkling evening with Caroline Jackson ").

He died in 2007 at the age of 50 years to cancer.

Works

• Brian Morton " Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings", Penguin, first in 1992 as " The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD", several new editions, 8th edition 2006 ( 1560 pages), ISBN 0-14-102327-9
• " Richard Cook 's Jazz Encyclopedia", Penguin 2005 (832 pages), ISBN 0-14-100646-3
• " Blue Note: The Biography ," Scherz Verlag 2004, ISBN 3-87024-599-9
• "It's about the time: Miles Davis on and off the record ", Oxford University Press 2006, ISBN 0-19-532266-5