The Cookers was started in March of 2010 as a way that 5 like-minded musicians could play together on a weekly basis and create an environment where original music could be performed in a club setting. As the weeks progressed, the musicians involved began to see the potential for so much more. It was evident that the group was becoming part of an artistic community through regular performance and was trying to further this ideal in the face of a challenging artistic climate. The band members’ students were coming down consistently to hear their teachers, garnering inspiration from the experience, and a group of regulars began showing up each week as word got out. Though several of Toronto’s long-standing jazz clubs are gone, the Cookers hoped to create some kind of an alternative, no matter how small; a place where down-the-middle Canadian jazz could be heard on an ongoing basis. The resultant recording is a continuation of this concept; a collective mentality that hopes to increase cultural awareness of Canadian original music, swinging all the while. The group’s first recording was made possible by each musician’s deep commitment to the music and the cause. This album is a true example of Canadian music at a grass roots level, created at a time when the arts are far from the main focus of our society, yet created nonetheless. Hope you enjoy it… CD REVIEW by Geoff Chapman in Wholenote Magazine: The Cookers are a back-to-basics hard bop quintet, nowadays an attractive voice in the land of quasi-intellectual trickery, avant-garde noodling and jazz's black sheep cousin, smooth jazz. Formed last year (2010), the fivesome comprises veterans and newbies but they're close companions on The Cookers - Volume One (TC69420 www.thecookers.ca) and its eight originals supplied by bandsmen. Immediately you know this group's best heard live with its mix of bop, soul, jazz and the blues, with trumpeter Tim Hamel and saxman Ryan Oliver swinging hard, pianist Richard Whiteman reliable as ever in all modes and a lively pulse generated by tuneful bassist Alex Coleman and drummer Morgan Childs. The trumpet's crisp, rough-toned precision matches Oliver's full-range warm horn, the former occasionally offering full rasp Roy Eldridge, the latter bring to mind Eric Alexander. Top tracks: The Ramble, Blues to Bookers and The Fork Test, but all have merit.