Jesse Cook

As a composer, Jesse Cook likes to take two styles of music that have never met before and blend them in new and interesting ways. He sees his style as a crossroads. “I want to be the Byzantium of our time.” Go to see a Jesse Cook live show and you will also hear his five-piece band of talented multi-instrumentalists. “Our shows usually end with everybody out of their seat dancing,” said Cook. “At the end of the night we want to end with a Rumba party.” At any of Cooks concerts, there will be a mix of those who live close to the theater or concert hall and those who have traveled from a far. Cook used to always ask folks to applaud if they had traveled two hours or more to be there, and often it was more than half the audience. This kind of fan devotion is unusual considering that Cook has never recorded a big pop culture hit, but people have found the music despite the fact that there is no big push from a record company. “For the people who do connect with my music, the connection seems to be very profound,” he concluded.