Richard David Cook (7 February 1957 – 25 August 2007) was a British

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

writer, magazine editor and former record company executive. Sometimes credited as R. D. Cook, Cook was born in Kew, Surrey, and lived in west

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

as an adult. A writer on music from the late 1970s until he died, Cook was co-author, with Brian Morton, of ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by ...

'', which lasted for ten editions until 2010. ''Richard Cook's Jazz Companion'' and ''It's About That Time: Miles Davis On and Off the Record'' were published in 2005. Cook began as a staff writer for '' NME'' in the early 1980s. The editor at the time,

Neil Spencer Neil Spencer is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and astrologer who lives in north London. He edited the ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') from 1978 to 1985 and was a founding editor of the men's magazine ''Arena'' and of the jazz/art ma ...

, commented that he "would take on the pieces that the fashion-oriented shunned - a Roxy Music review, an audience with a fading star, a piece on the emergent sounds of Africa". He was later the jazz critic for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, wh ...

'' and a music writer for the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members o ...

''. Cook was formerly editor of ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2, ...

'', when it was a jazz-centred periodical (it broadened its coverage towards the end of his editorship), and edited '' Jazz Review'' magazine from its foundation in 1998. ''Jazz Review'' continued for a time after his death, using Cook's approach to the music as continuing inspiration; it did not name a specific successor (Morton) for six months. Cook also presented a programme on jazz for BBC local radio GLR. Cook was the UK jazz catalogue manager for

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be ...

(1992–97) and also produced albums by the trumpeter Guy Barker. During his spell at PolyGram, Cook launched the short-lived 'Redial' re-issue line of classic

British jazz British jazz is a form of music derived from American jazz. It reached Britain through recordings and performers who visited the country while it was a relatively new genre, soon after the end of World War I. Jazz began to be played by British ...

albums. In 2002, he was responsible for issuing a 10 CD limited-edition set by the American avant-garde pianist

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in complex ...

of 1990 recordings, '' 2 Ts for a Lovely T'', on the Codanza label. Cook died from bowel and liver

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

on 25 August 2007, aged 50, in

, a year after diagnosis.

References

1957 births 2007 deaths British male journalists British magazine editors Deaths from cancer in England Jazz writers People from Kew, London The Sunday Times people The Wire (magazine) writers Writers about music {{UK-music-bio-stub