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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
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Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
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Junior Cook | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Born | Herman Cook July 22, 1934 |
| Origin | Pensacola, Florida, U.S. |
| Died | February 3, 1992 (aged 57) New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, hard bop |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instruments | Saxophone, flute |
| Years active | 1958–1992 |
Herman "Junior" Cook (July 22, 1934 – February 3, 1992)[1] was an American hard bop tenor saxophone player.
Cook was born in Pensacola, Florida.[1] A member of a musical family, he started on alto saxophone before switching to tenor during his high school years.[2]
After playing with Dizzy Gillespie in 1958, Cook was a member of the Horace Silver Quintet (1958–1964); when Silver left the group in the hands of Blue Mitchell Cook stayed in the quintet for five more years (1964–1969).[1] Later associations included Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, George Coleman, Louis Hayes (1975–1976), Bill Hardman (1979–1989), and the McCoy Tyner big band.[1]
In addition to many appearances as a sideman, Junior Cook recorded as a leader for Jazzland (1961), Catalyst (1977), Muse, and SteepleChase.
He also taught at Berklee School of Music for a year during the 1970s.[1][3]
In the early 1990s, Cook was playing with Clifford Jordan, and also leading his own group. His health deteriorated in the late 1980s as a result of cirrhosis and he died in February 1992 in his apartment in New York City, aged 57.[3][4]
Saxophonist Courtney M. Nero authored Have Horn, Will Travel: The Life and Music of Herman "Junior" Cook,[5] the first full-length biography of Cook's life and career. The book was published in November 2025 by the University of North Texas Press and shed additional light on Cook's beginnings in Pensacola, his pre-Horace Silver career, and his impact on a generation of young jazz musicians in New York City, especially in the 1980s New York City jam session scene.[6]
With Horace Silver
With Barry Harris
With Bill Hardman
With Freddie Hubbard
With Clifford Jordan
With Blue Mitchell
With others
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Herman "Junior" Cook (July 22, 1934 – February 3, 1992) was an American hard bop tenor saxophone player.
The Place to Be is an album by saxophonist Junior Cook recorded in 1988 and released on the SteepleChase label.
Joseph Allen Farnsworth (born February 21, 1968, in South Hadley, Massachusetts) is an American jazz drummer. Farnsworth was the youngest of five sons born to Roger Farnsworth, a well-known music teacher, trumpeter, and bandleader. His father introduced all of his sons to music of all kinds, but particularly jazz. His brothers included: John (eldest, trombone and saxophone), James (saxophone), Paul, and David (drums). His brother James played baritone saxophone in Ray Charles's band from 1992 until his death in 1999, while his brother John is a professional jazz saxophonist. He attended South Hadley High School, Massachusetts, then William Paterson College, where he studied under Harold Mabern and drummers Arthur Taylor and Alan Dawson. He received his BMus in 1990. Following this, he moved to New York City in the early 1990s and played with Junior Cook (1991), Jon Hendricks (1991), Jon Faddis (1992), George Coleman, Cecil Payne (1993 and subsequently), Annie Ross, and Benny Green (1995). He has played in the group One for All since 1995 with David Hazeltine and Jim Rotondi, and worked with Benny Golson, Steve Davis, and Eric Alexander in the second half of the 1990s. During that period he also played with Alex Graham (1995), Michael Weiss (1996, 1998), the Three Baritone Saxophone Band (1997), and Diana Krall (1999-2000). He was a member of Pharoah Sanders' band. In July 2025, Farnsworth released the album The Big Room which spent one week at #1 on the JazzWeek chart for jazz radio play.
Ichiban is Japanese for number one and may refer to: "Ichiban", a song in the A–Z Series by Ash Ichi-Ban, an album by the Louis Hayes – Junior Cook Quintet Ichiban Records, an Atlanta, Georgia hip-hop record label Chūka Ichiban!, a Japanese anime Sapporo Ichiban, a brand of instant noodles produced by Sanyo Foods
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker
