The Cookers Quintet (TCQ) are a Toronto-based jazz combo, with a sound firmly rooted in the ‘50s and ‘60s hard bop movement. They return with their third recording for Do Right Music, aptly titled Vol. Three.
The album is a collaboration with legendary New York City pianist/vocalist, Johnny O'Neal, who is best known for his work with Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, and as a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. O’Neal’s piano playing is featured on to the whole session, as well as lending his signature voice to four of the seven tracks. "Johnny's vocals are some of the best around, and his piano playing is original and swinging, with the full weight of an amazing career behind it" says bassist Alex Coleman.
There’s a feel to this music that comes in part from approaching the studio with limited time and a skeleton of a plan. "We brought Johnny O'Neal up from New York to collaborate with us on one tune 'Deed I Do' for our Vol. Two release, things kind of just flowed along" says saxophonist Ryan Oliver, "We kept playing tunes on the spot, no real rehearsal, just calling standards that Johnny liked to sing in the keys he liked to sing them, no sheet music and coming up with ways to get through them. It was an old school styled recording session." The result is a timeless recording driven by pure musicianship that is reminiscent of well-loved Blue Note and Impulse classics.
The Cookers Quintet came together as a group with 2014’s Vol. One and subsequently Vol. Two the following year. Emerging with compositions that draw on the classic sounds of jazz’s golden era, TCQ works like a well-oiled machine, comfortably delivering hot, uptempo numbers and lyrical ballads with sophistication and subtlety. Vol. Three marks the natural next step in their development - four standards and three originals all including the masterful contributions of Johnny O'Neal make 'Vol. Three' an exciting addition to The Cookers Quintet body of work.