“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,” states ALL ABOUT JAZZ. “(The Cookers) are some of the best composers, arrangers and musicians we have in jazz, and they are working together in one of the most exciting super groups we have 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,” raves DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE. “A dream team of forward-leaning hard-bop,” says THE NEW YORK TIMES.
Experience counts, especially in jazz. The more time musicians spend interpreting tunes & interacting with others, the more articulation an audience can expect. You can hear the fruits of such work in the expressive language Legendary Jazz Supergroup THE COOKERS bring to the bandstand and to their 6 critically acclaimed recordings. This 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 & 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. DAVID WEISS and DONALD HARRISON, from a more recent generation, are the youngest members.