Jesse Cook

Jesse Cook’s concert at the Plaza Live in Orlando was awesome! I decided to go after a friend asked me to drive up to Orlando, and I am so glad I went. I had seen Jesse a couple of times on television, but had never been to a show. Now, I will be buying tickets the next time he is in town. The Plaza Live is easy to get to, and they have free parking and sell food and drinks there. All you have to do is show up, and you don’t have to get there too early, so I was very happy with everything even before the show started.The Plaza is an old movie theater converted to a music hall, so it was a perfect place to see Jesse play. The acoustics were great. We were able to get very close to the stage, which was great! Jesse talks to the audience a lot, so it was really fun to be right up front.Jesse played his big hits, Mario Takes a Walk, Café Mocha and Bogota by Bus, and many others too. As always, Jesse and the band were stellar. These are some seriously talented people. The violin, the guitar, percussion – all faultless. The band is friendly too. They joke around, sometimes dance with the audience. At this concert, it felt more like an impromptu gathering with friends than a formal show. Every fan of Jesse Cook should make sure to see him live!

Widely considered to be a critical figure in neuvo-flamenco music, Jesse Cook has been playing his music around the world for over a decade. The Canadian singer, songwriter and producer is extremely well respected, and because of this, he has huge crowds show up to see him play his music live.

To watch his live set is truly a wicked cool experience. The stage is set completely dark, and all you hear is this haunting female voice and the light behind her shines so that you can only see her shadow. All the while, there is a low hum coming from the stage as well, until a middle eastern drum comes in and the pace picks up. The stage lights up, and you can see the entire band: a drummer, two guitarists, back up vocals, and a violinist. Suddenly from the side of the stage, Jesse cook walks with gusto to pick up his guitar takes the front and center stage, gives a little wave to the audience and then starts playing. His hands move seamlessly on his guitar, producing a sound that completely surrounds you and brings you in further into the exotic sounds. Watching the instrumental the conversations that they are having on stage is completely mesmerizing!

My husband and I go to Jesse Cook's concert once a year. This time we traveled to Vancouver, B.C. from Atlanta, Georgia, USA for his concert. We have been following him for about 5 years now, and we have been to his concert in different cities in U.S. We have been to Tampa, Florida, Mobile, Alabama, Austin, Texas, and of course, Atlanta, Georgia. This time because of our schedule and the fact we love Vancouver, we decided to travel to Canada for his concert.
Jesse Cook has never disappointed us. His concert in Vancouver was not exception, and it was only better. He has loyal fans in the States, but his fans in Canada are much more frenzied, and we loved that exciting atmosphere! We have been listening to his new CD and we enjoyed his performance of his new songs, as well as the songs we enjoyed listening for years. We love Jesse Cook's guitar. But we also love every member of the artists who travel with him. Together, they make fantastic music, and he won't be the same without them. We look forward to our annual trip to his concert net year. (Hopefully closer to Atlanta.)

Great seeing Jesse Cook again.
The Moore Theatre is a really nice venue.
If you've seen Jesse before, this is different because of his entire change of band members. Still no explanation on that.
The new guys are talented, for sure but the feel was much more rudimentary and as this is their first tour, I didn't feel the same connection between them and Jesse.
Great story about long time fan Matt joining as second guitarist. Matt is on par with Jesse! (Nic Hernandez was also missed though)
Violinist Fethi from Algeria, was a joy to watch and listen to, making the best connection with Jesse (but missed Chris Church and his unusual array of other instruments, as well as his singing)
Sorry fellow Brit Dan on electric bass and synthesizer keyboard, not impressed. (Yep, missed Dennis on bass)
Methi (or whatever his name was) from Portugal can obviously play drums, but made the weirdest, ugly faces! (Missed Chendi too)
So yes,we enjoyed the concert, but even Jesse looked uncomfortable at times with his new band.
Everyone wants to know why a whole band was changed!!

Jesse Cook was fabulously entertaining and his music is often quite creative, using classic instruments in unusual ways (using his guitar as a percussion instrument) and introducing us to some ancient musical instruments (such as an Armenian flute that has a 3000 year history)…

His violinist is an amazingly versatile musician, with his abilities to play a wide range of instruments and his vocals were superb. His percussionist is one of the best that we have heard. The stage lighting was interesting but sufficiently subdued; allowing your senses to concentrate on the music.

Jesse's story about how his group creates music out of a pot pourri if musical styles and sources is quite enlightening and unusual.

Most of all, Jesse's guitar talents are simply amazing, with his finger movements being outrageously adept. Cook's concerts are always superb and always delivered creatively in interesting Venues.

Can't wait for the next delightful performance of this talented Dutch/Canadian.

We have followed Jesse Cooke and his other-worldly fellow musicians for a long time now. I should have been prepared for one of the most AMAZING performances I've experienced in years!

Jesse is, well Jesse is largely considered (and rightly so) to be one of the most talented and creative and influential composers of our era.

What I wasn't quite ready for was the versatility and complete mastery by Chris Church of SO MANY INSTRUMENTS. Jesse and Chris astounded everyone at the Charlotte performance Sept 30. Utterly amazing how talented and personal these guys are in performance.

The entire band, even their new drummer, are just so talented and perfect in performance, tightly tuned, meshing together perfectly. It's eerie how good they were last night and every night.

The best performance we've experience in a long while. I will not miss any of their performances if they are within reachable distances.

GO SEE THEM ASAP

My 4th time seeing Jesse Cook, and as amazing of a show there was one thing that bothered me a little bit. Where was Chris Church? The violinist that played was good, however he didn't adhere to Chris Church's playing. Chris Church has a haunting violin sound that reaches your soul. Long haunting notes. This guy was great but his notes were short and sounded like he would be great at Irish music rather than Middle Eastern/Columbian sounds. Also he needs to turn up the volume, that might help a lot.
AND there was no middle eastern flute!!! What is up with that? UGH, I was a little disappointed.

The drummer on the other hand, was better than his other guy. And Matt Selleck on guitar with him was phenomenal. Overall it was a great great show. Bass player was outstanding also.

Chris Church was missed.

Monica Arrache
Avid Jesse Cook fan!

Seeing Jesse Cook live was on my bucket list and my husband and I were not disappointed. We were impressed and charmed. In concert Jesse Cook and his band showed his amazing talent, with mixture of old well-known favourites and taste of his new material. He was personal, appropriately witty and brought the audience into the spirit of his beautiful music by admonishing us to stand and dance to his music, which is very moving. He shared tidbits of musical history in totally enjoyable and appropriate manner. His group returned gladly for 2 encores, and delighted us with coming into the audience and performing a song without any amplification for voice and instruments....magical. It was one of the best concerts I have been to.

Super talented Jesse Cook is also a nice guy. He and his "band" gave their best performance for the snow-storm-reduced crowd of about 100 at Lincoln Nebraska's historical Rococo Theater. They seemed genuinely impressed with the way the crowd responded to their obvious talent and provided a delightful 2 hour concert.

My wife and I had seen Cook in concert in a similar setting in Kansas City, at another restored theater. It seems the smaller venues with a more intimate experience for the crowd brings out the best of Jesse Cook.

Anyone having the opportunity should definitely experience the talent and showmanship of Jesse Cook.

Un spectacle de classe et avec beaucoup d'ambiance. Jesse Cook a son meilleur, ses musiciens de qualité et avec beaucoup de passion. Une belle chimie entre eux. Une belle salle, des sièges super confortables. Et quoi dire des pièces musicales.....superbe. Un gros merci pour cette belle soirée.

A class show and with a lot of atmosphere. Jesse Cook has his best, his quality musicians and with a lot of passion. A beautiful chemistry between them. A beautiful room, super comfortable seats. And what to say musical pieces ..... superb. Thank you for this beautiful evening.