NUEVO MEETS OLD
Jesse Cook’s son inspires new way of recording
At the corner of Duduk and Pro Tools ...
That’s where Jesse Cook’s pin stuck in the musical map when it came time to plan his new album One World.
“You know how fearless kids are with technology ...” the Toronto-based nuevo flamenco guitarist begins.
Cook’s son was fascinated by the recording studio on the third floor of Cook’s house and started pushing buttons until sounds came out.
“Pretty soon, he could do all the basics,” Cook said.
After the relief passed that the son hadn’t broken anything, the dad had to get in there himself.
“I started writing songs that way, at first just for the fun of it, but I liked what was happening. Before I knew it, it was kind of where the album started.”
Fans are familiar with Cook’s acoustic guitar work, which simmers and boils from warm to hot. Well, there’s nothing cold about technology, either, he says. Songs and poetry are written on computers, passionate love letters are exchanged — and occasionally intercepted (ouch!) — over the Internet
“We live in a time where technology is so much a part of how we express ourselves,” says Cook. “You’d become a dinosaur if you were aloof.”
Although his six-stringed instrument has an age-old history, Cook himself is an early adapter. At Berklee, he majored in what they termed “music synthesis” long before people made music on computers
“Early on, I got into all that stuff. It really gave me a leg up.” Being comfortable with the technology allowed him to do his own recording and to produce for other musicians.
But about that duduk. The new album has more electronics and loops than Cook has ever done, but it’s not all about newness.
“I like to think of the record as Constantinople — that city where everyone had to pass through,” says Cook.
Hence the duduk, an ancient Armenian woodwind. Cook always explores different cultures in his music. This time, he wanted to time travel as well.
“It’s thousands of years old. It’s just a beautiful, haunting instrument.”
When Cook’s violinist Chris Church said he was going to learn to play it, Cook thought “good luck, buddy.” But he did it.
“Remarkable,” says Cook. “He now plays the thing in our show every night.”
It’s hard to believe now but there was a time when Cook couldn’t imagine playing at all, much less night after night on tour.
Twenty years ago, he was a studio musician who decided to put out an album — he still remembers loading the boxes into his car. Radio played it and to his own surprise, it started selling, and fast: 2,000 copies in its first month.
“It was really crazy because it all happened, honestly, in a few weeks.”
Suddenly, Cook was being courted by record companies. He signed to a U.S. label within a month. The president wanted Cook to play at the Catalina Jazz Festival off the coast of California but the event was already programmed. Cook’s contribution was a gig in the bar during intermissions.
“I remember trying to convince them that this is not the kind of music that people are going to want to watch live.”
But they did. The bar filled up. The hallway outside the bar filled up. The ramp leading to the hallway filled up. By the end of the festival, Cook was invited to play in the all-star show on the mainstage. He got a standing ovation before they introduced him.
Meanwhile, the store on the island sold out the few Jesse Cook CDs there were and quickly ordered more.
The president called Cook with the news: “We just sold 10,000 to that stupid little store on the island and your record debuted at number 14 on the Billboard charts.”
Boom, says Cook. “My life took this 90-degree turn.”
FINAL NOTE
The world seems to be of one mind on the new album. Hitting No. 1 on Amazon and iTunes jazz charts in Canada and No. 1 on the World Music sales chart, One World is Cook’s best selling album in years.