Laurence Cook

Drummer Laurence Cook is a late first-generation American free improviser. Born in Boston, Cook attended art school there, before moving to N.Y.C. in the early '60s and working as a longshoreman. Although he has no recordings as a leader, Cook appears on many albums starting in the late '60s and stretching all the way through the '90s. He recorded with Alan Silva (on Skillfullness), the Godz, and Paul Bley during Bley's electronic period. During the '70s, Cook returned to Boston and collaborated with pianist/physicist Lowell Davidson until later in the decade when he began working in Bill Dixon's bands. Cook appears on several of Dixon's recordings and continued to work with him through the late '80s. Cook was tied up with day gigs for much of the early '90s, but in 1996 he returned to more high-profile performing and recording. During the last half of the '90s he worked with Jamell Moondoc, Thurston Moore, and Sabir Mateen, among others. ~ Joslyn Layne