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Doc Cook 1891

3/9/2020

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Caporchestra, arrangiatore, pianista e compositore statunitense (Louisville, Kentucky, 3.9.1891 – 25.12.1958).

​Lo troviamo per la prima volta verso il 1909-10 a Chicago, dove opera come compositore e arrangiatore. Negli anni seguenti sembra aver diretto numerose orchestre e lavorato come direttore musicale al Riverview Park.

Dal 1922 al 1930, anno in cui parte per New York, lavora con una formazione di tipo sinfonico (dai sedici ai venti musicisti) al Dreamland, poi al White City Ballroom. In questo gruppo, che registra una ventina di brani tra il 1924 e il 1928, figurano alcune leggende di New Orleans come Freddie Keppard e Jimmie Noone. Almeno uno di tali brani, Moanful Man, è un aspro e struggente capolavoro, degno delle migliori incisioni di King Oliver realizzate nel 1923 per la stessa piccola etichetta (Gennett).

Negli anni ’30 e ’40 lavora per la RKO e la Radio City Music Hall. Laureato in musica e musicologia (da cui il soprannome) all’università di Chicago, abbandona ogni attività nel settore una decina d’anni prima della morte.

Musicista dotto e di formazione accademica (cosa rara per un afroamericano negli anni ’20), Cooke discende dagli uomini del ragtime, musica che anche lui costeggia. Le sue prove in grande orchestra possono oggi suonare arcaiche, a paragone di quelle messe in atto nello stesso periodo da Fletcher Henderson, Sam Wooding e Ellington. Hanno comunque un fascino, una dolcezza, un feeling che non escludono affatto quel senso del ritmo e dello swing che, a volte, fanno difetto ai suoi più illustri concorrenti.

Sono inoltre i più rari (anche se non gli unici) esempi di applicazione della polifonia New Orleans alle esigenze delle grandi formazioni. Il che non è poco.
​
[D.N.]
American orchestra leader, arranger, pianist, and composer (Louisville, Kentucky, 3.9.1891 - 25.12.1958).

​For the first time around 1909-10 in Chicago, we find him where he works as a composer and arranger. In the following years, he appears to have conducted numerous orchestras and worked as a musical director at Riverview Park.

From 1922 to 1930, when he left for New York, he worked with a symphonic formation (from sixteen to twenty musicians) at Dreamland, then at the White City Ballroom. This group, which recorded about twenty songs between 1924 and 1928, includes some New Orleans legends such as Freddie Keppard and Jimmie Noone. At least one such piece, Moanful Man, is a harsh and poignant masterpiece, worthy of King Oliver's best recordings made in 1923 for the same small label (Gennett).

In the 1930s and 1940s, he worked for the RKO and Radio City Music Hall. Graduated in music and musicology (hence the nickname) at the University of Chicago, he abandoned all activity in the sector ten years before his death.

A learned and academically trained musician (which is rare for an African American in the 1920s), Cooke descends from ragtime men, a piece of music that he too coasts. His rehearsals in a large orchestra can now sound archaic compared to those performed in the same period by Fletcher Henderson, Sam Wooding, and Ellington. However, they have a charm, a sweetness, a feeling that does not exclude that sense of rhythm and swing that lacks in its most illustrious competitors.

They are also the rarest (though not the only) examples of applying New Orleans polyphony to large groups' needs. Which is no small feat?
​
[D.N.]
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