Willie Cook

Willie Cook ( born November 11, 1923 in Tangipahoa, Louisiana, † 22 September 2000 in Stockholm ) was an American jazz trumpeter of the swing and played in the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Life and work

Willie Cook grew up in Chicago and first learned violin before switching to the trumpet as a teenager. In the late 1930s he played in King Perry's band, then in the early 1940s in Jay McShanns band. In 1942 he had a short own band went to McShann again; 1943 to 1948 he worked in the band of Earl Hines, 1948 at Edwin Wilcox and 1948/50 with Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra. He also worked with Jimmie Lunceford in 1949, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Hodges, and for the first time in 1951 with Duke Ellington. As a regular member of the band he was with the legendary Newport appearance in 1956 here and played on albums like SuchSweetThunder with; In 1959 he visited Europe with his orchestra in 1960, he joined Festival at the Monterey Jazz on, he also played with BB King and 1957 with pianist Billy Taylor (Taylor Made Jazz ). The late 1960s, Cook worked again with the Duke Ellington Orchestra ( heard on The Intimacy of the Blues and the studio sessions ). After his partial withdrawal of the jazz scene in the years 1974 to 1978, he occasionally played in Count Basie and Clark Terry; hear he is on the Basie albums Kansas City Six and hot Breeze from the year 1981, on the latter as the only soloist in the piece of cookie. In 1982 he moved to Sweden. There he worked with Alice Babs and Ernie Wilkins ( listen to the Montreux album at Steeplechase )

Links / sources

• Willie Cook in All music guide