Cook

The Cook label was founded in the early 1950s by Emory Cook, a pioneering audio engineer.

Cook invented a novel process of pressing records using powdered vinyl rather than hot, solid biscuits, which made production easier and enabled pressing in smaller facilities (even record stores) throughout the Caribbean.

In the mid 50s Cook partnered with Trinidadian lawyer Bruce Procope and pilot Joe Watson to found a subsidiary of the American label in Trinidad called Cook Caribbean Ltd. The recording studio, pressing plant, and offices were located at 26 Sackville St. (a warehouse owned by Procope's father) in Port-of-Spain. Louis Kerr was the recording engineer.

While a few dozen Trinidad releases were distributed in the U.S. and elsewhere, there are hundreds more (primarily singles) that were only distributed locally in much smaller quantities by Cook Caribbean.

The Smithsonian Institution acquired the Cook masters, patents, and documents in 1990, but most of the Trinidadian material was sold at some point earlier.

450 records.

Label Artists Title Year Format
Cook 1020
Various Martinique LP
Cook 1021
Various Un Ti Bo and Other Pleasures From Martinique LP
Cook 1022
Various Haiti Confidential LP
Cook 1023
Ramayan Sewak Sang Ramayan Sewak Sang LP
Cook 1040
Brute Force Steel Band (Antigua), Hell’s Gate Steelband, Big Shell Steel Band Steel Band Clash 1955 LP
Cook 1042
Buena Vista Steel Band Rhythm In Steel LP
Cook 1042
Various Brute Force Steel Bands Of Antigua, B.W.I. 1955 LP
Cook 10421
Hell's Gate Steel Band (Antigua) Steampipe Rumba / Mambo #5 1956 45
Cook 10422
Brute Force Steel Band (Antigua) Mambo Jambo / Brute Force Samba c. 1956 45
Cook 10423
Brute Force Steel Band (Antigua), Big Shell Steel Band Pineapple Meringue / Lend Lease Samba c. 1956 45
Cook 10423
Various Meringue #1 / Del Magreto Del Batey 1956 45
Cook 1043
Various Three Rituals - Trinidad, Cuba, Israel LP
Cook 1045
Various Drums Of Trinidad 1956 LP
Cook 1046
Various The Champion Steelbands Of Trinidad 1957 LP
Cook 1047
Percy Thomas Steel Orchestra The Enchanted Steelband LP
Cook 1047
Katzenjammers Steelband with Velvet Gloves 1957 LP
Cook 1048
Brute Force Steel Band Of Antigua Music To Awaken The Ballroom Beast LP
Cook 1049
Dot Evans & The Brute Force Steel Band Beauty And The Brute Force LP
Cook 10491
Mona Baptiste Calypso Blues / U-Tan-Mwe (Forgotten Melody) 45
Cook 1072
Various Jump Up Carnival in Trinidad LP
Cook 1080
Various Dance Calypso! LP
Cook 1082
Rupert Clemendore, John Buddy Williams Le Jazz Primitif from Trinidad LP
Cook 1083
Various Musica de Cuba Pre-Castro LP
Cook 1083
Various Jawbone of an Ass LP
Cook 10850
Rupert Clemendore & His Band Le Jazz Trinidad - Patois Jazz with Rupert Clemendore & His Band LP
Cook 1086
Willie Rodriguez and His Gang The Drums of Rodriguez LP
Cook 10890
Various The Castilianne 1956 LP
Cook 1101
Invaders Steel Orchestra (San Juan) Steelband in San Juan LP
Cook 1122
Mighty Striker, Wrangler, Viper, … Hellish Calypso LP
Cook 1123
Various Calypso Atrocities 1959 LP
Cook 1125
Various Calypso in Jamaica LP
Cook 1126
King Sparrow In High Fidelity 1963 LP
Cook 1140
Various Steelband Promenade LP
Cook 1180
Various Dance Calypso! LP
Cook 1185
Various Calypso Kings and Pink Gin 1957 LP
Cook 1186
Ensemble Aux Calebaxes Merengue LP
Cook 1187
Lito Peno Orch. Puerto Rico Jazz LP
Cook 1188
Various Dirty Jazz From Down South 1958 LP
Cook 1188
Various Las’ Lap 1958 LP
Cook 1189
Various Calypso Exposed LP
Cook 1280
Lord Melody Caribbean Limbo Music 1963 LP
Cook 2004
Mighty Sparrow, Various Cook's Tour of Stereo: Around the World in Authentic 3-dimensional Sound LP
Cook 2004sd
Various, Brute Force Steel Band (Antigua) Cook's Tour of Stereo: Around the World in Authentic 3-dimensional Sound LP
Cook 30211
Francisco et son groupe mi-yo, La Groupe Folklorique Martiniquais Eulalie (beguine) / Ce'ou Meme Doudou / Martinique Trop Belle (beguine) / Grand, Mai Grand (bel air) 7" EP
Cook 30401
Hell's Gate Steel Band (Antigua) Bila El Mambo / La Veda Ni Meringue / Mambo #5 c. 1956 45
Cook 30402
Brute Force Steelband of Antigua In the Mood / Loretta / Boncillina / Steelband Clash 1956 45
Cook 30424
Brute Force Steelband of Antigua Hold 'Em Joe / Jingle Bells / Beastly Meringue / Now Is The Hour 1958 45
Cook 30451
Little Carib Drummers, Lorna Pierre Adang Padang / Calypso In Drums c. 1958 45
Cook 30461
Southern All Stars Steel Orchestra Skokiaan / PP Samba c. 1958 45
Cook 30462
Invaders Steel Orchestra, Hylanders Steel Orchestra, Southern All Stars Steel Orchestra Cumpanchero / Tom Cat Mambo / Tropical Meringue / Meringue Minor 1958 45
Cook 30471
Katzenjammers Steel Orchestra The Breeze And I / Tiana c. 1957 45
Cook 30472
Katzenjammers Steel Orchestra Wonderful Illusion / Anna 1958 45
Cook 30473
Katzenjammers Steel Orchestra Love Is A Many Splendored Thing / Katzberg c. 1958 45
Cook 30481
Brute Force Steel Band Of Antigua Say Si Si / Perfidio c. 1957 45
Cook 30482
Brute Force Steelband of Antigua Meringo Jenny / Take Her To Jamaica / Pierconela / Man Smart, Woman Smarter 1958 45
Cook 30721
Various Taxi Driver / Boo Boo Man 1958 45
Cook 30822
Dot Evans and the Argonauts, Nap Hepburn Kiss Me For Christmas / Christmas Calypso c. 1958 45
Cook 308501
Rupert Clemendore & Combo Mambo Chop Suey / Mambo Metronome / Drummer's Mood / Doris Oh 1958 45
Cook 308901
Clarence Drysdale, Lorna Pierre, John “Buddy” Williams Terra Seca / Claude Beguine Wye a Wye Papa 1958 45
Cook 308902
John “Buddy” Williams Gee Bongo Lay / Shoeing The Mare / Big Man Sweet / Sweet Man 1958 45
Cook 31201
Andrew Beddoe Manding Good Morning Dr. / Nation Hallicord 1958 45
Cook 31212
Various Escape of Spider / Federal Capital / Si / Chat E Chat O 1958 45
Cook 31801
Small Island Pride Going Down Jordan / Carnival Celebration 1958 45
Cook 31802
Small Island Pride, Lord Cristo Papa Loves Mambo / Last Night the Landlord / Boxing Bout 45
Cook 31851
Mighty Sparrow Dear Sparrow / Sailor Man 1958 45
Cook 31852
Lord Melody Creature from the Black Lagoon / Jonah and the Bake 1957 45
Cook 31853
March of Dimes/Cypher/Lord Melody/Mighty Sparrow Senorita / PNM Balisier / Sparrow Vs Melody 1958 45
Cook 31854
Mighty Sparrow, Chang Kai Chek Situation in Trinidad / Naughty Boy 45
Cook 31861
Merrymakers Steel Orchestra Donnez moi la main / Tan moi la to garcon 1958 45
Cook 31871
Cyril Diaz Paran / Serenal 1958 45
Cook 31872
Cyril Diaz Tabu / Limbo 1958 45
Cook 4061
Lord Melody Nikivo / Wait For Me 1958 45
Cook 41851
Lord Melody Creature From The Black Lagoon / Michael Remove Your Face 1958 45
Cook 4271
Jerry Daniels, Lord Melody Si Senor / Jumbie c. 1961 45
Cook 4402
Brute Force Steelband of Antigua Jingle Bells / Mambo Jambo 1958 45
Cook 5003
Various Caribeana LP
Cook 5004
Tiroro Best Drummer in Haiti LP
Cook 5007
Various Marimba Band LP
Cook 5016
"Chinee" Patrick Jones Calypso Lore And Legend 1956 LP
Cook 5017
Unknown Artist Bamboo Tamboo - Bongo & The Belair 1956 LP
Cook 5018
Various East Indian Drums of Tunapuna 1956 LP
Cook 5020
Grand Curucaye String Orchestra Epilogue To The String Band Tradition LP
Cook 580106
Wrangler Bongo Man / Limbo Teacher 1958 45
Cook 581160
Lord Melody The Devil / Sugar Pie 1958 45
Cook 581573
Johnny Gomez Tanty Lucy / Scandal 1958 45
Cook 5857
Small Island Pride Cannes Brules Carnival / How to Make Love c. 1959 45
Cook 5859
Lord Melody Caroline / Corbeau Flying High 1959 45
Cook 5860
Lord Melody, King Fighter Smart Woman / Sugar Pie 1959 45
Cook 587576
Fitz Vaughan Bryan Cooks Cooking / Calypso Vickie 1958 45
Cook 6097
Buddy Robinson Como Yo Ta Quero / Wandering Boy c. 1961 45
Cook 901
Various Steel Band Jump Up 1958 LP
Cook 902
Various West Indies Festival of Arts 1958 1958 LP
Cook 903
The St. Joseph's Convent Girls Choir The St. Joseph's Convent Girls Choir c. 1958 LP
Cook 904
The Esso Steel Band (Bermuda) A Bermuda Honeymoon In Song And Steel 1958 LP
Cook 905
Ed Harper, Johnny Gomez, Fitz Vaughan Bryan, … All Night Session: 4 Leading Dance Bands From Trinidad c. 1958 LP
Cook 906
Lord Melody Sings Calypso 1958 LP
Cook 907
Hell's Gate Steel Band (Antigua) Hell's Gate Steelband of Antigua LP
Cook 908
Albert Kerr , St. Hilary’s Senior Girls Choir , Denis Kerr, … Trinidad Queen’s Hall Concert 1958 LP
Cook 909
The St. Joseph's Convent Girls Choir, Michael Brennan The Beloved Son/Christmas Carols 1958 LP
Cook 910
St Joseph Convent Choir, The St. Joseph's Hilltoppers, Merrymakers Steel Orchestra, … Creole Christmas c. 1959 45

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