Carla Cook is a Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist.
A Detroit, Michigan … Read Full Bio ↴Carla Cook is a Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist.
A Detroit, Michigan native, music seized hold of Cook at an early age. As a student at Cass Technical High School she played string bass in the school orchestra, studied piano and voice on weekends, and sang in her church’s choir. An elder brother introduced her to jazz, Cook chose voice as her instrument of choice, and she became a disciple of jazz icon Eddie Jefferson, founder of a singing technique called ‘vocalese’ where a singer sings lyrics to a famous instrumental solo. During this time she and close friend Regina Carter formed dreams of becoming jazz musicians; Cook as a singer, and Carter as a violinist. At Carter’s urging she applied to and was accepted by Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. While at Northeastern she remained in close contact with Carter (who was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music and met Cyrus Chestnut, a jazz pianist studying at nearby Berklee School of Music. After graduating from Northeastern in 1985 Cook remained in Boston preparing herself for a career singing jazz in New York. In February of 1990 she moved to New York and supported herself as a school teacher and book seller during the day, and singing at night. After five years she traveled to Europe and from 1993-1994 Cook served as a guest vocal and ensemble instructor at the Jazzschule in Basel, Switzerland, and Jazz and Rock Schule in Freiburg, Germany. She returned to New York two years later and her work included singing with Lionel Hampton’s Orchestra and George Gee’s Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra. In 1998 she signed with MaxJazz, a fledgling music label, and that year she released her first CD, ‘It’s All About Love’, to great acclaim, including a best jazz vocal Grammy nomination. Her second CD, ‘Dem Bones’ (a tribute to all the trombone players she’d worked with in the Lionel Hampton and George Gee groups), released in 2001, was also a success, and received a glowing review from Down Beat magazine, the leading jazz publication. In 2002 she released her CD ‘Simply Natural’, which was inspired by her love for the beauty found in nature.
Cook performs globally both with her own groups, most notably 'the Carla Cook Quintet', and as a guest soloist with artists including Eric Reed and old friends Regina Carter and Cyrus Chestnut (both of whom have become young luminaries in the jazz world). Her eclectic venues include the digital realm as she is featured as a character in the Sony Playstation game, ‘Parappa the Rapper II’, and she has said that it is a dream of hers to appear with her favorite characters on Sesame Street.
A Detroit, Michigan … Read Full Bio ↴Carla Cook is a Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist.
A Detroit, Michigan native, music seized hold of Cook at an early age. As a student at Cass Technical High School she played string bass in the school orchestra, studied piano and voice on weekends, and sang in her church’s choir. An elder brother introduced her to jazz, Cook chose voice as her instrument of choice, and she became a disciple of jazz icon Eddie Jefferson, founder of a singing technique called ‘vocalese’ where a singer sings lyrics to a famous instrumental solo. During this time she and close friend Regina Carter formed dreams of becoming jazz musicians; Cook as a singer, and Carter as a violinist. At Carter’s urging she applied to and was accepted by Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. While at Northeastern she remained in close contact with Carter (who was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music and met Cyrus Chestnut, a jazz pianist studying at nearby Berklee School of Music. After graduating from Northeastern in 1985 Cook remained in Boston preparing herself for a career singing jazz in New York. In February of 1990 she moved to New York and supported herself as a school teacher and book seller during the day, and singing at night. After five years she traveled to Europe and from 1993-1994 Cook served as a guest vocal and ensemble instructor at the Jazzschule in Basel, Switzerland, and Jazz and Rock Schule in Freiburg, Germany. She returned to New York two years later and her work included singing with Lionel Hampton’s Orchestra and George Gee’s Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra. In 1998 she signed with MaxJazz, a fledgling music label, and that year she released her first CD, ‘It’s All About Love’, to great acclaim, including a best jazz vocal Grammy nomination. Her second CD, ‘Dem Bones’ (a tribute to all the trombone players she’d worked with in the Lionel Hampton and George Gee groups), released in 2001, was also a success, and received a glowing review from Down Beat magazine, the leading jazz publication. In 2002 she released her CD ‘Simply Natural’, which was inspired by her love for the beauty found in nature.
Cook performs globally both with her own groups, most notably 'the Carla Cook Quintet', and as a guest soloist with artists including Eric Reed and old friends Regina Carter and Cyrus Chestnut (both of whom have become young luminaries in the jazz world). Her eclectic venues include the digital realm as she is featured as a character in the Sony Playstation game, ‘Parappa the Rapper II’, and she has said that it is a dream of hers to appear with her favorite characters on Sesame Street.
The Way You Look Tonight
Carla Cook Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Carla Cook:
Inner City Blues Dah, dah, dah, dah Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah Dah,…
Ode To Billie Joe It was the third of June another sleepy dusty Delta…
September Song Oh, it's a long, long while from May to December But…
The More I See You Each time I look at you is like the first…
These Foolish Things Oh! Will you never let me be? Oh! Will you never…
Where or When It seems we stood and talked like this before We looked…
You Don't Know What Love Is You don't know what love is 'Til you've learned the meaning…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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Alexia Gardner
This morning I have listened to this recording over and over again! Wow Wow Wow Wow! Carla Cook is in a class of her own. Her voice is warm and melodic and she swings and scats effortlessly through the tune. You are just left wanting more ..............
Len Drury
What a great voice and creative style
84davoyce
Carla Cook is such fantastic a singer! I saw her and Vanessa Rubin sing at Parlor Entertainment in Brooklyn last year. They tore the place down! It was a great show.
Geoff Wall-Davis
This version is soul filled.
Meriene Silva
Amo essa musica!!! Maravilhosa Carla, músicos... incríveis!!!
Deborah Antón
I love this one.
Anyone else thinking the singer and the bass player share a moment when she sings "and your cheek so rough"? 1:08
fiddlercrab3
Great stuff! Could you please list the other players on the session?
itmsjim
Amazing...I have this CD....Carla is the best around!!!
Anukii
If you've ever played Um Jammer Lammy, just know that this woman is the voice of Teriyaki Yoko in the Vital Idol stage! You wouldn't even THINK they're the same! Her voice was SO altered in the game! But nonetheless, she is a wonderful Jazz singer <3
NYCBear114
Awsome My Lady!!!!! I love your work, Touches the center of my heart. Looking forward to more