Al Cook

Al Cook (2014)

Al Cook (born February 27, 1945 in Bad Ischl as Alois Koch ) is an Austrian blues guitarist , composer and singer .

biography

Al Cook grew up in Vienna . Attending the Elvis film Gold from the Hot Throat at the age of fifteen made him want to make music. He began teaching himself guitar, piano and singing.

After Al Cook first came into contact with the blues , he learned instrumental and vocal techniques of the historical blues musicians. His idols included singers such as Blind Lemon Jefferson , Charley Patton , Son House , Texas Alexander and Robert Johnson . At the beginning of the 1970s, Al Cook became so well known that it was part of Austrian popular culture until the middle of the decade. At this time he was giving concerts in Vienna's Jazzland with blues musicians such as Roosevelt Sykes , Johnny Shines , John Jackson , Honeyboy Edwards and Little Brother Montgomery .

Al Cook influenced many musicians and was in part also an artistic impulse for some of the leading domestic blues musicians such as Erik Trauner , Siggi Fassl , Stephan Rausch and Michael Pewny as well as many Austrian scene musicians.

From 1983 to 1986, Al Cook used the then rockabilly revival to span an arc from blues to rock 'n' roll , which gave its popularity an additional boost. In 1989 he finally turned his back on rock 'n' roll in order to devote all of his artistic strength to country blues. Al Cook regards his engagement against the growing influence of pop culture on the blues as an important part of his artistic assignment.

On November 15, 2014, Al Cook celebrated its 50th stage anniversary in the Metropol .

Honors

• 2005: Bad Ischl's cultural symbol of honor
• 2006: Gold Medal of Merit of the State of Vienna
• 2015: Golden City Hall Man of the City of Vienna

Discography

• Working Man Blues (1970)
• Slide Guitar Foolin '(1973)
• Hard Rock Blues (1976)
• Memphis 1954 (1984)
• A Legendary White Face in Blues (1986)
• On the Road to Rock & Roll (1986)
• Twenty Five Blues Years (1989) (with Mojo Blues Band , Axel Zwingenberger , Dana Gillespie , Oscar Klein )
• Victrola Blues (1993)
• The White King of Black Blues (1995)
• Down in Boogie Alley (1999)
• The Country Blues (2001)
• The Birmingham Jam (2005)
• Barrelhouse Man (2008)
• Pioneer and Legend (2009)
• Mississippi 1930 (2013)

literature

• Al Cook: No place for Johnny B. Goode. Autobiography, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-9503934-2-2 .

Web links

Commons : Al Cook  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of Al Cook
• Al Cook's Blueskitchen. ( Memento from April 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). Blues columns by Al Cook on blues.at.
• Images of man. ( Memento from May 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). On: oe1.orf.at. June 20, 2010.
• Special hearing pictures. On: oe1.orf.at. 19th June 2014.
• Austria's blues legend Al Cook is 70 years old. On: profil.at. February 24, 2015.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Vienna Decoration of Honor for Al Cook and Erich Schleyer. Vienna City Hall correspondence, May 23, 2006.
2. ↑ Al Cook - Article in “Profile”. ( Memento from May 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). At: Blues.at. Retrieved May 28, 2015.