The Cookers are switched on

"It’s safety in numbers," admitted David Weiss, the baby of the septet, after surprisingly high-energy performances by fellow trumpeter Eddie Henderson, altoist Craig Handy, tenorist Billy Harper, pianist George Cables, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Billy Hart.

These sprightly veterans were all doing their damnedest to sound as cutting-edge as they did when the hard-bop world was young.

Perhaps they felt obliged to live up to their collective name, which derives from two specific Blue Note albums. The Cooker (1957) featured the brilliant Lee Morgan, and The Night of the Cookers (1965) co-starred Morgan with fellow trumpet firebrand Freddie Hubbard.

The fact that Hubbard is now semi-retired and Morgan was shot dead onstage by his wife does not affect this concept. It’s the generic verb that counts. (To cook, M’lud, means to groove, or to impart rhythmic excitement through instrumental prowess in the jazz world.)

Thus Henderson and Weiss worked hard to evoke prime-period Hubbard by playing his burning up-tempo theme, The Core. Harper produced passionate post-Coltrane preaching on two of his own compositions, Capra Black and Priestess, while Handy’s florid alto scored heaviest on a Cables original, The Peacemaker.

"Now for something even louder and faster," Weiss remarked meaningfully before presenting the only ballad of the set, Sweet River Suite, featuring Handy on flute and a fine piano solo by Cables. After all that cooking on full power, it was a relief to hear somebody simmer for a while.

The Cookers, The Ronnie Scotts All Stars
Ronnie Scott's
Frith Street, W1D 4HT