Willie Cook

Cook was born in Tangipahoa, Louisiana, on November 11, 1923. He grew up in Chicago and learned to play violin before settling on trumpet as a teenager. He joined King Perry's band in the late 1930s, then joined Jay McShann's band early in the 1940s. His later credits include performing and recording with Johnny Hartman, Earl Hines, Jimmie Lunceford, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, B.B. King, and Count Basie. He joined Ellington's band in October 1951 as lead trumpeter and stayed for a decade. He moved to Sweden in 1982 after spending time in the country touring. He died of heart failure in Maria Regina Hospice in Stockholm on September 22, 2000.