Willie Cook

For the Scottish footballer, see Willie Cook (footballer).

Willie Cook (November 11, 1923, Tangipahoa, Louisiana - September 22, 2000, Stockholm, Sweden) was an American jazz trumpeter.

Cook grew up in Chicago and learned to play violin before settling on trumpet as a teenager. He joined King Perry's band in the late 1930s, then joined Jay McShann's band early in the 1940s. His later credits include performing and recording with Johnny Hartman, Earl Hines, Jimmie Lunceford, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, B.B. King, and Count Basie (1970s). He moved to Sweden in 1982 after spending time in the country touring.

Recordings

ROOTS TO SCANDINAVIAN BLUES (1983) w/Nappy Brown (voc) and Knut Reiersrud (guitar). Hot Club Records.

With Duke Ellington

• Ellington '55 (Capital, 1999)

With Dizzy Gillespie

• The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (Bluebird, 1937-1949, [1995])

With Johnny Hodges

• Ellingtonia '56 (Norgran, 1956)
• The Big Sound (Verve, 1957)

With Billy Taylor

• Taylor Made Jazz (Argo, 1959)

With Paul Gonsalves and Enrique Villegas

• Encuentro (1968)

References

• Ed Hogan, Willie Cook at Allmusic