Jerry Cook; Walk In The Park

I guess I can’t express how much pleasure it brings me to hear a new musical acquaintance like tenor man Jerry Cook. His sound is consistently historic and excellent and never indulges in unnecessary fluff. To sweeten the deal, his four compositions (out of a total of ten), are well conceived with attractive melody and abundant solo space for his very capable colleagues, the names being all new to me. Cook and friends also manage to include some welcome standards like “Smile”, “Soul Eyes”, “Summertime”, and the lesser known but outstanding Charlie Haden tune “Hello My Lovely”. If Jerry Cook’s balanced and beautiful tone doesn’t delight you, I’d be very surprised. Additional special kudos to pianist Chris Gestrin who is kind enough to play all the right notes. Jerry Cook has given us a keeper. More please!

Cellar; probably 2021; appx. 60 min.