Richard Cook (1957-2007)

The English jazz critic Richard Cook has suddenly passed away due to cancer.

Richard gave TBP our first cover story for his magazine Jazz Review in 2002.  It was a very understanding piece, taking us in stride as conceptualists and not fretting about whether we were "right" or "wrong."  In his recent Jazz Encyclopedia, he complained that the 2003-2004 "TBP controversy" in America obscured the fact that our music was quite complicated in intent and execution.  Thank you, Richard.

The mammoth Penguin Jazz Guide  (co-authored with Brian Morton) is what I go to when I am curious about a musicians' discography.  I haven't looked at the Miles Davis book yet, but I did read his biography of Blue Note records in a single sitting.  From that volume, here is his accurate analysis of a record that defines the Blue Note sound, Horace Silver's Blowin' the Blues Away.

....The title track sets off at the tempo of a typhoon, and is apotheosized in Silver's solo.  The ten-bar ballad "Peace" is one of Silver's most-covered compositions, though it's rarely played as slowly and graciously as the original.  "Sister Sadie" became a hit choice for other bandleaders -- Woody Herman's version is particularly strong -- but, again, the Silver original is distinguished by its exacting delivery at what seems precisely the right tempo -- up, but not overfast. Silver was crystallizing all the ingredients -- gospel and blues templates allied with grooving beats -- in such pieces and getting a near perfect result.

Richard was a man who lived and breathed jazz. Fifty is too young.