Jesse Cook

For Jesse Cook, music has been a journey, sonically and literally. The 50-year-old global guitar virtuoso is Paris-born and Toronto-raised, which shows in his 9th studio album, One World (2015).

Cook is a master explorer of music, traveling through entire genres of music–flamenco, classical, rumba, world beat, pop, blues, or jazz–uniting them using his own creative approach. Despite its humble, homemade origins, One World begins another chapter in the multi-tasking artist, composer, and producer’s quest. His destination: the digital realm. To create the disc’s emotive melodies, fluid grooves, and rich sonic tapestries, he has incorporated technology more than ever before. What results is the most sonically diverse and distinctive disc in Cook’s vast and varied catalogue, which has earned 11 Juno nominations and one win. On these 11 instrumentals, programmed beats and dusty electronic textures are interwoven with syncopated handclaps, deep, dubby basslines, and popping percussion. Sitars and violin share the space with synthesizers and sound effects. Notes and rhythms dance playfully back and forth between speakers. Naturally, Cook’s masterful guitar work commands center stage with its elegant balance of subtlety, in-the-moment honesty, and blazing technical prowess.

For Cook, the journey continues.