Jesse Cook: The Libre Tour

A career spanning twenty-five years has brought this Canadian guitarist multiple accolades including a coveted Acoustic Guitar Magazine ‘Player’s Choice Silver Award’, eleven JUNO award nominations (he won for 2001’s Free Fall), a Gemini Award and, most impressively, ten platinum and gold studio albums. Since launching his career with 1995’s Tempest, Cook has blazed his own trail. Along with being a global-guitar virtuoso, he’s honed his skills as a composer, producer, arranger, performer and, more recently, filmmaker and cultural ambassador. Surprisingly, he started down many of those paths before he even started school. As a child he was introduced to flamenco while spending summers at his father’s house in the Camargue region of southern France. John Cook’s neighbour happened to be Nico Reyes, guitarist for The Gypsy Kings. Meanwhile his mother, Heather Cook, with whom he lived, enrolled him in Toronto’s prestigious Eli Kassner Guitar Academy. Cook’s musical education continued at the world-renowned Royal Conservatory, Toronto’s York University and the esteemed Berklee College in Boston. He set his sights on a career as a composer. That was until an Ontario cable TV company aired his music on the listings channel.