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Laurence Cook

Laurence Cook studied painting at the Museum School of Fine Arts in Boston and later learned to play piano, vibraphone, and drums. He has been a major figure in the jazz avant-garde since the 1960's on twenty-two recordings, including Revenge, and Dual Unity with Paul Bley; Skillfullnes with Alan Silva,Wraparound with Joe Morris; "Fuzzagainst Junk" from Vision 1997 Festival with Thurston Moore; Triplet and Fire in the Valley with Jemeel Moondoc; Divine Mad Love with Sabir Mateen; November 1981, Thoughts, and Son of Sisyphus with Bill Dixon. He has worked with Sam Rivers, Lowell Davidson, Rahn Burton,Alan Silva, The Brecker Brothers, Robin Kenyatta, Mark Whitecage, and Barre Phillips among many others.

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2
Album Review

Cook / Coursil / Gale / Robinson / Tintweiss: Ave B Free Jam

Read "Ave B Free Jam" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


A small story to motivate this review. Once upon a time, there was a scholar in a field of the humanities who wrote quite obscurely, even for the humanities, although his prose did not approach the glories of the postmodern. Most agreed that his writing was incomprehensible. It was sesquipedalian, if not totally obscure. In his defense, some would say that, ah, it is a case of poor translation into English, which is not his native language. But then it ...

125
Extended Analysis

Laurence Cook: Tragedies of Love

Read "Laurence Cook: Tragedies of Love" reviewed by Stanley Jason Zappa


Laurence CookTragedies of LoveBlaq Lghtn2011 It is hard to think of a time when tedium was as pervasive in music as it is today. If listening to music hasn't become a chore, it has become the sound track to doing chores--part of the torture of our jobs rather than a relief or refuge from them. Contemporary commodity music holds the same station as the knock-knock joke. There comes a time in all ...

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Recording

Laurence Cook and Jim Hobbs Conjure "Tragedies of Love" on Blaq Lghtn Records

Laurence Cook and Jim Hobbs Conjure "Tragedies of Love" on Blaq Lghtn Records

Source: Chris Rich

Blaq Lghtn recently released its third disc, Tragedies of Love, a duet involving the elder statesman of Boston drummers, Laurence Cook with the mayor of Boston music, Jim Hobbs and his beloved alto saxophone. It is a work laden with the reflections one might expect in the William Blake form of Experience. If anything, both epitomize Blake's notion of 'the prolific.' From Joslyn Layne at All Music, we have this succinct and useful summary for the drummer. “Drummer Laurence Cook ...

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Performance / Tour

Laurence Cook and Eric Zinman Show Musical Vision in "Double Action" Duet CD

Laurence Cook and Eric Zinman Show Musical Vision in "Double Action" Duet CD

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards

New-England based avant jazzmen Laurence Cook and Eric Zinman each have an impressive track record in improvisatory music. Laurence has played drums and percussion in a number of important ensembles over the years; Eric Zinman's pianism has been a central part of significant live and recorded dates. For all that, one might nonetheless be unprepared for what happened when the two began working on a series of duets in 2009. The fruits of that collaboration can be heard on Double ...

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Recording

Laurence Cook and Eric Zinman - Double Action (Ayler, 2011) ****a1/2

Laurence Cook and Eric Zinman - Double Action (Ayler, 2011) ****a1/2

Source: Free Jazz by Stef Gijssels

By Stanley Zappa Laurence Cook is a national treasure. Why the cultural machinery would rather embrace bourgeois twaddle rather than reward Laurence Cook with a Guggenheim grant or Macarthur award or the key to the city of Cambridge is one of the more egregious betrayals of our modern day. Cook took the drum seat after Milford Graves in the Lowell Davidson Trio. Cook was also Bill Dixon's drummer following Freddy Waits and preceding Tony Oxley—right smack dab in the middle ...

"Wakte Oglaka is the album title of a new Ayler Download recording. It features the chemically volatile combination of Mario Rechtern on reeds, Eric Zinman, piano, Jane Wang on bass and veteran new music drummer Laurence Cook. They proffer their own blend of old-school new thing music, free jazz if you insist on a label.

What distinguishes this from some of the many other releases out there of this sort is the specially sensitive drumming of Cook, a man who has spent years playing in and out of time, who is so familiar with his drum set up and the sounds he can coax out of it that he provides a reasoned virtuosity, a vertiable rainbow of sound colors.

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Para Quintet -...

Transientones
2023

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Ave B Free Jam

Inky Dot
2022

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Double Action

Cristal
2011

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Laurence Cook:...

Blaq Lghtn
2011

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Banishment

From: Tragedies of Love
By Laurence Cook

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