Doc Cook

Who was Doc Cook?

Charles L. Cooke was an American jazz bandleader and arranger, who performed and recorded under the stage name Doc Cook. Unlike many early jazz musicians who used monikers denoting advanced degrees, Cook was a Doctor of Music awarded by the Chicago Musical College in 1926.

Born in Louisville he first worked as a composer and arranger in Detroit before moving to Chicago around 1910. Cook became resident leader of the orchestra at Paddy Harmon's Dreamland Ballroom in Chicago from 1922–27, acting as conductor and musical director. The ensemble recorded under several names, such as Cookie's Gingersnaps, Doc Cook and his 14 Doctors of Syncopation, and Doc Cook's Dreamland Orchestra. Among those who played in Cook's band were Freddie Keppard, Jimmie Noone, Johnny St. Cyr, Zutty Singleton, Andrew Hilaire, and Luis Russell. After 1927 Cook's orchestra played in Chicago at the Municipal Pier and the White City Ballroom.

In 1930, Cook moved to New York City and worked as an arranger for Radio City Music Hall and RKO, working there into the 1940s. On Broadway he had a number of important orchestration credits, including The Hot Mikado and the first U.S. production of The Boy Friend in collaboration with Ted Royal in 1954. A proponent of ragtime, he also worked frequently with Eubie Blake, supplying the arrangements for the 1952 revival of Shuffle Along.