The Cookers at Jimmy’s

“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒂 𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒋𝒂𝒛𝒛 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉-𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆.” — 𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑨𝑩𝑶𝑼𝑻 𝑱𝑨𝒁𝒁

Experience counts, especially in jazz. The more time musicians spend interpreting tunes and interacting with others, the more articulation an audience can expect. You can hear the fruits of such work in the expressive language THE COOKERS bring to the bandstand and to their six critically acclaimed recordings.

This legendary and exciting all-star septet summons up an aggressive mid ‘60s spirit with a potent collection of expansive post-bop originals marked by all the requisite killer instincts and pyrotechnic playing expected of some of the heaviest hitters on the scene today.

BILLY HARPER, CECIL MCBEE, GEORGE CABLES, EDDIE HENDERSON, and BILLY HART all came up in the heady era of the mid ‘60s. It was a period that found the dimensions of hard bop morphing from their original designs, and each of these guys helped facilitate the process as members of some of the most important bands of the era.

Hart and Henderson were members of Herbie Hancock’s groundbreaking Mwandishi group; Cecil McBee anchored Charles Lloyd’s great ’60s quartet alongside Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette; Billy Harper was part of Lee Morgan’s last group, as well as being a member of Max Roach’s Quartet and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers; while George Cables held down the piano chair in numerous bands including groups led by Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Dexter Gordon and Art Pepper.

DAVID WEISS and DONALD HARRISON, from a more recent generation and the youngest members of the band, are experts in this forthright lingo, having gained experience performing with Art Blakey, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Tolliver, Roy Haynes and Herbie Hancock.

“𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒋𝒂𝒛𝒛 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔.”
— 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑩𝑶𝑺𝑻𝑶𝑵 𝑮𝑳𝑶𝑩𝑬

“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅-𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒙 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕.”
— 𝑳𝑶𝑺 𝑨𝑵𝑮𝑬𝑳𝑬𝑺 𝑻𝑰𝑴𝑬𝑺

“𝑨 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅-𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅-𝒃𝒐𝒑”
— 𝑵𝑬𝑾 𝒀𝑶𝑹𝑲 𝑻𝑰𝑴𝑬𝑺

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅-𝒘𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒐𝒇 𝒋𝒂𝒛𝒛 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.”
— 𝑱𝑨𝒁𝒁 𝑻𝑰𝑴𝑬𝑺

“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒋𝒂𝒛𝒛 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓-𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈.”
— 𝑫𝑬𝑻𝑹𝑶𝑰𝑻 𝑴𝑬𝑻𝑹𝑶 𝑻𝑰𝑴𝑬𝑺

“(𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔) 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒋𝒂𝒛𝒛, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚’𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓-𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒔 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑾𝒆𝒊𝒔𝒔, 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒆.”
— 𝑫𝑶𝑾𝑵𝑩𝑬𝑨𝑻 𝑴𝑨𝑮𝑨𝒁𝑰𝑵𝑬