Tickets are limited for this Latin/flamenco sensation
The Huntsville Festival of the Arts is closing out its successful summer season with master acoustic guitarist Jesse Cook.
The Latin/flamenco guitarist has been wowing Huntsville audiences since his first visit in 2001 at the Delta Grandview Inn. There he had the crowd roaring for more, so the festival brought him back for two more performances in 2002 and 2003.
In 2006, in answer to public demand, Cook performed for two nights at the Algonquin Theatre to sold-out crowds. The same is expected when he makes a two-night return visit on Aug. 27 and 28 at 8 p.m.
LATIN SPICE: Festival favourite Jesse Cook ignites the stage with his infectious Latin/flamenco/world rhythms and, backed by a group of stellar musicians, is sure to deliver memorable performances on Aug. 27 and 28. [Photo by Jon Snelson, taken at a previous HFA show.]
Cook is a Toronto-based Nuevo Flamenco guitarist, born in 1964 in Paris to Canadian parents. He was raised in the region in southern France known as the Camargue, where he grew up with the sounds and influences of Gypsy music.
Guitarist Manitas de Plata, who lived in the Camargue, and Nicolas Reyes, lead singer of the flamenco group Gypsy Kings, who just happened to live next door, heavily inspired him.
After his parents separated, Cook and his sister accompanied his mother to her birth country, Canada. Recognizing the musical aptitudes of her son, lessons followed at Toronto’s Eli Kassner Guitar Academy (Kassner’s other famous pupil was classical guitarist Liona Boyd). There he continued his studies in classical and jazz guitar in North America’s music schools, then attempted to unlearn it all while immersing himself in the oral traditions of Gypsy music. This helped him widen his range of musical tastes.
Like other guitarists of his style of music, Cook incorporates jazz, Latin and world music into his playing. He is also well known for the energy of his live shows.
Cook has recorded six studio albums and traveled the world exploring musical traditions that he has blended into his style of rumba flamenco. In addition to headlining concerts and festivals, he has opened for such legends as B.B. King, Ray Charles and Diana Krall. He has performed with British soprano Charlotte Church on the Tonight Show and toured with legendary Irish band The Chieftains.
In 2001, Cook won a Juno Award in the Best Instrumental Album category for Free Fall. Most recently, he has been nominated for two 2008 Juno awards, for his 2007 release Frontiers (World Music Album of the Year) and for the One Night at the Metropolis DVD (Music DVD of the Year) which captures his performance during the 2006 Montreal Jazz Festival.
Tickets for Jesse Cook are $40 and $20 for youth under 18 and are available at the Algonquin Theatre box office on Main Street 789-4975 or through the festival website at www.huntsvillefestival.on.ca.
