Junior Cook

Herman "Junior" Cook (July 22, 1934 – February 3, 1992) was a hard bop tenor saxophone player.

Biography

Cook was born in Pensacola, Florida.^[1] After playing with Dizzy Gillespie in 1958, Cook gained some fame for his longtime membership in the Horace Silver Quintet (1958-1964); when he and Blue Mitchell left that band, Cook played in Mitchell's quintet (1964-1969). Later associations included Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, George Coleman, Louis Hayes (1975-1976), Bill Hardman (1979-1989), and the McCoy Tyner big band.

In addition to many appearances as a sideman, Junior Cook recorded as a leader for Jazzland (1961), Catalyst (1977), Muse, and SteepleChase.

He also taught at Berklee School of Music for a year during the 1970s.^[2]

In the early 1990s Cook was playing with Clifford Jordan and also leading his own group. He died in his apartment in New York City.^[2]

Discography

As leader

• Juniors Cookin´ (OJC)
• The Place To Be (Steeplechase; 1988)
• On A Misty Night (Steeplechase, 1989)
• You Leave Me Breathless (Steeplechase,1991)

As sideman

With Horace Silver

• Live At Newport '58 (1958)
• Six Pieces of Silver (1956-58)
• Finger Poppin' (1956-58)
• Blowin' the Blues Away (1959)
• Horace-Scope (1960)
• Doin' The Thing - At The Village Gate (1961)
• The Tokyo Blues (1962)
• Silver’s Serenade (1963)
• Song For My Father (1964)

With Freddie Hubbard

• Sing Me a Song of Songmy (1971)
• Keep Your Soul Together (1973)
• High Energy (1974)
• Polar AC (1974)

With others

• Kenny Burrell: Blue Lights (Blue Note, 1958)
• Dave Bailey Sextet: One Foot In The Gutter (Epic, 1960)
• Blue Mitchell: Down With It (Blue Note, 1965)
• Barry Harris: Luminiscence (OJC, 1967)
• Cedar Walton: Cedar! (OJC, 1967)
• Don Patterson: Dem New York Dues (Prestige, 1968-69)
• Clifford Jordan: Two Tenor Winner (Criss Cross, 1984)
• McCoy Tyner: Uptown/Downtown (Milestone, 1988)
• Bill Hardman: What’s Up? (Steeplechase, 1989)
• Larry Gales Sextet: A Message from Monk (Candid, 1990)
• Bertha Hope: Elmo’s Fire (Steeplechase, 1991)

References