Will Marion Cook

Will Marion Cook ( born January 27, 1869 in Washington DC; † July 19, 1944 in New York City ) was an American composer.

Cook studied violin at the Oberlin Conservatory in 1884, before he went to Berlin in 1887. There he was at the College of Music student of Joseph Joachim. After his return to the United States in 1889, he studied briefly at the National Conservatory of Music with Antonín Dvořák.

In 1890 he became director of a chamber orchestra with which he toured the East Coast. A performance of his first composition Scenes from the Opera of Uncle Tom 's Cabin was 1893 not materialize. 1898 was created in collaboration with Paul Laurence Dunbar Clorindy; or, The Origin of the Cakewalk, the first African-American musical comedy, which was performed at the Broadway Theatre.

Cook was the composer George Walker -Bert Williams Broadway Shows Company and composed numerous musicals, besides also songs under the name of Will Marion. In 1898 he married the singer Abbie Mitchell, who also took roles in many of his works.

In 1910 he founded the New York Syncopated Orchestra, with whom he toured the U.S. and Europe, and in 1918 appeared in front of King George V. On this tour, also the later jazz saxophonist Sidney Bechet took part.

After his return to the U.S. In 1922, he founded the Clef Club Orchestra, the singer Paul Robeson was a member. In the early 1920s he was one of the major funders of Duke Ellington.

Cook's son Mercer Cook was a diplomat and professor at Howard University.

Cook died in 1944 in New York of cancer.

Works

  • Scenes from the Opera of Uncle Tom 's Cabin, 1893
  • Clorindy; or, The Origin of the Cakewalk, 1898
  • The Policy Players, 1900
  • The Casino Girl, 1900
  • Uncle Eph 's Christmas, Musical, 1901
  • The Cannibal King, 1901
  • Who Dat Say Chicken, Song, 1902
  • Darktown Is Out Tonight, song, 1902
  • In Dahomey, 1903
  • The Southerners, Musical, 1904
  • Abyssinia, 1906
  • The Ghost Ship, 1907
  • Bon Bon Buddy, Song, 1908
  • Bandanna Land, 1908
  • The Traitor, 1913
  • In Darkeydom, 1914
  • The Cannibal King, 1914
  • Runnin wild, song, 1923
  • I'm coming Virginia, Song, 1927
  • St. Louis Woman, Song, 1929
  • Swing Along, 1929
George Walker (composer) Name Authority File
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