Jamaican saxophonist (1927–1998)
Tommy McCook (3 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One Studios in the 1970s.
Biography.
While some sources claim that McCook was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved to Jamaica in 1933, others claim that he was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He took up the tenor saxophone at eleven, as a pupil at the Alpha School, and eventually joined Eric Deans' Orchestra.
In 1954, he left for an engagement in Nassau, Bahamas, after which he ended up in Miami, Florida, and it was here that McCook first heard John Coltrane and fell in love with jazz. McCook returned to Jamaica in early 1962, where he was approached by a few local producers to do some recordings. Eventually, he consented to record a jazz session for Clement "Coxson" Dodd, which was issued on the album "Jazz Jamaica". His first ska recording was an adaptation of Ernest Gold's "Exodus", recorded in November 1963 with musicians who would soon make up the Skatalites.
In 1968, he led Tommy McCook &amp; The Supersonics, featuring Jackie Jackson on bass guitar.
During the 1960s and 1970s, McCook recorded with the majority of prominent reggae artists of the era, working particularly with producers Clement "Coxson" Dodd as well as Bunny Lee, and his house band, The Aggrovators, as well as being featured prominently in the recordings of Yabby You and the Prophets (most notably on version sides and extended discomixes), all while still performing and recording with the variety of line ups under the Skatalites name.
When McCook was bandleader for The Supersonics, the band included Jackie Jackson (bassist) and drummer Paul Douglas, who became the rhythm section for Toots and the Maytals, when the era of reggae emerged from rocksteady.
In 1978, Tommy McCook made a brief cameo in the film Rockers directed by Ted Bafaloukos. He was also part of the Rockers All Stars, the group responsible for the film's instrumental music.
McCook died of pneumonia and heart failure, aged 71, in Atlanta, on 5 May 1998.
Discography.
With The Skatalites
With Bobby Ellis
With The Aggrovators
With Yabby You
With Herbie Mann
References.
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