Jesse Cook

Born in Paris on 29 November 1964 to photographer andfilmmaker John Cook and television director and producerHeather Cook, Jesse Cook spent the first few years of his lifemoving between Paris, Southern France and Barcelona. As atoddler he was fascinated by the guitar and tried to emulatethe sound he heard coming from his parents' recordings ofManitas de Plata, a famous Gypsy guitarist from the region ofSouthern France known as the Camargue.

After his parents separated, Cook and his sister accompaniedhis mother to her birth country, Canada. Recognizing themusical aptitude of her son, lessons followed at Toronto’s EliKassner Guitar Academy. Kassner's other famous pupil wasclassical guitarist Liona Boyd.

While Cook was still a teenager, His father retired to theFrench city of Arles in the Camargue where his neighbor justhappened to be Nicolas Reyes, lead singer of the flamencogroup the Gipsy Kings.

During frequent visits to Arles, Jesse Cook becameincreasingly fascinated by the “Camargue sound”, therhythmic, flamenco-rumba approach that could be heard onmany corners and cafés in the “gipsy barrio”.

Back at home, he continued his studies in classical and jazzguitar in some of North America’s most prestigious musicschools, including the legendary Berklee College of Music inBoston. He has often quipped that he later attempted tounlearn it all while immersing himself in the oral traditions ofGypsy music. This helped him widen his range of musicaltastes.

The 1995 Catalina Jazz Festival was a turning point in hiscareer. His debut album Tempest had been independentlyreleased in Canada. Within a month, a deal with Americancompany Narada allowed them to be booked at the CatalinaJazz festival. Originally the band was to perform during thetwenty minute intermissions in a little bar downstairs from themain stage. His performance was well appreciated, soappreciated in fact that Cook was invited to give aperformance on the main stage. Shortly afterwards, Tempest entered the American Billboard charts at #14.

Cook has recorded seven studio albums, two live DVDs andhas traveled the world exploring musical traditions that he hasblended into his style of rumba flamenco. In addition toheadlining concerts and festivals, he has opened for suchlegends as B.B. King, Ray Charles and Diana Krall. He hasperformed with Welsh soprano Charlotte Church on theTonight Show and toured with legendary Irish band, TheChieftains.

His music has been featured on several episodes of Sex inThe City, The Chris Isaac Show and several Olympic Games.In 2001, Cook won a Juno Award in the Best InstrumentalAlbum category for Free Fall. In 2009, he was AcousticGuitar Magazine's Player's Choice Award silver winner in theFlamenco category (gold went to Paco de Lucia).

He is athree-time winner of the Canadian Smooth Jazz award forGuitarist of the Year and numerous other awards.