Jesse Cook

Jesse Cook
Background information
Birth nameJesse Arnaud Cook
BornNovember 28, 1964
Paris, France
OriginToronto, Ontario, Canada
GenresNew flamenco, world music, ethno jazz
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
InstrumentClassical guitar
Years active1995–present
LabelsNarada, EMI, E1
Websitewww.jessecook.com

Jesse Arnaud Cook is a Canadian guitarist. He is a Juno Award winner, Acoustic Guitar Player's Choice Award silver winner in the Flamenco Category, and a three-time winner of the Canadian Smooth Jazz award for Guitarist of the Year. He has recorded on the EMI, E1 Music and Narada labels and has sold over 1.5 million records worldwide.[1][2][3]

Life and career

Cook was born November 28, 1964, in Paris, France, to Canadian photographer and filmmaker John Cook and Canadian television director and producer Heather Cook.[4] He was raised in Toronto, Canada.

Cook studied classical and jazz guitar at Canada's Royal Conservatory of Music, York University, and Berklee College of Music in the United States.[5] He has often quipped[citation needed] that he later attempted to unlearn it all while immersing himself in the oral traditions of Roma music.

After the independent 1995 release in Canada of his debut album, Tempest, he played at the 1995 Catalina Jazz Festival; shortly afterwards, Tempest entered the American Billboard charts at No. 14.[citation needed]

Cook has recorded ten studio albums, five live DVDs and has traveled the world exploring musical traditions that he has blended into his style of rumba flamenca.[citation needed]

In 1998, Cook was nominated for a Juno Award as Instrumental Artist of the Year.[6] In 2001, he received a Juno Nomination for Best Male Artist.[citation needed] In 2001, Cook won a Juno Award in the Best Instrumental Album category for Free Fall.[citation needed] In 2009, he was Acoustic Guitar's Player's Choice Award silver winner in the Flamenco category (gold went to Paco de Lucia).[4] He is a three-time winner of the Canadian Smooth Jazz award for Guitarist of the Year[1] and has received numerous other awards.

In 2011, Cook began filming, directing, and editing his own music videos[citation needed] with the release of Virtue. He has since directed, filmed, and edited eight music videos, 16 episodes of Friday Night Music, and produced, edited, and mixed the PBS Concert Special Jesse Cook, Beyond Borders.[citation needed]

Cook has said of his music: "If you go to Spain and you play [my] music, they’ll say, what is this? They don’t recognize it as Flamenco because it’s not; it’s a hybrid. I love Flamenco, but I also love world music: jazz, pop, Brazilian Samba, and Persian music."[7]

Discography

  • Tempest (Narada Equinox, 1995)
  • Gravity (Narada Equinox, 1996)
  • Vertigo (Narada World, 1998)
  • Free Fall (Narada World, 2000)
  • Nomad (Narada World, 2003)
  • Montréal (Narada, 2005)
  • Frontiers (Koch, 2007)
  • The Rumba Foundation (Coach House Music, 2009)
  • The Blue Guitar Sessions (eOne, 2012)
  • One World (E1, 2015)
  • Beyond Borders (eOne, 2017)
  • Libre (One World, 2021)
  • Love in the Time of Covid (2023)

Video albums

Concert Specials / DVDs Title Album Details Certifications Nominations/Awards
One Night at the Metropolis 2007 DVD – EMI[8] Platinum[9] DVD Nominated Juno Award – Music DVD of the Year[6]
The Rumba Foundation 2009 DVD – EMI[10]
Jesse Cook: Live in Concert 2012 DVD - Coach House Films
Jesse Cook: Live at the Bathurst Street Theatre 2013 DVD - Coach House Films
Jesse Cook: Beyond Borders 2019 DVD - Coach House Films

Other appearances

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Montalvo Arts Center Jesse Cook". montalvoarts.org. Montalvo Arts Center. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  2. ^ Fischer, Sophia (26 January 2015). "Groove to Jesse Cook's Upbeat Flamenco Tunes". Pepperdine. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  3. ^ "Conversation with Jesse Cook". 25 May 2015. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Jesse Cook Boulder Theater". bouldertheater.com. Boulder Theater. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  5. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ a b "Artist Summary Jesse Cook". junoawards.ca. The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  7. ^ "Music Award-Winning World Musician Jesse Cook Shares Life on the Road". parvatimagazine.com. 17 September 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  8. ^ "One Night at the Metropolis". allmusic.com. Allmusic. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  9. ^ "Artist Summary Jesse Cook". musiccanada.ca. Music Canada. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  10. ^ "Rumba Foundation". allmusic.com. Allmusic. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jesse Cook.