Grammy-Nominated Vocalist Carla Cook
Performs at Baruch College, Feb. 10, 2005

Baruch College will host Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Carla Cook and her trio on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005. The performance, which takes place at the Engelman Recital Hall, 55 Lexington Avenue (at 25th Street) at 1 pm, is part of the Milt Hinton Jazz Perspectives concert series, now in its 13th year.

This concert is free and open to the public.

While many jazz vocalists limit their repertoire to the swing music of the 1920’s and ‘30s, Tin Pan Alley composers and bebop, Carla Cook takes her music well beyond the American jazz standard repertoire. Cook freely reinterprets rock n’ roll and R& B compositions and gives a jazz flavor to such pop classics as Simon & Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair,” Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues,” Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billy Joe,” and Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold.”

A native of Detroit, Carla Cook began singing as a young child in the Methodist Church choir. Though jazz has always been her primary focus, she as been quoted as saying that her favorite artists range from Miles Davis to Chaka Khan and Johann Sebastian Bach.

Her debut album, “It’s All About Love,” recorded in 1999. received a Grammy nomination in the Best Jazz Vocal Performance Category and was awarded the AFIM Indie Award for Best Jazz Vocal in 2000. Her subsequent albums, “Dem Bones” and “Simply Natural” have also received critical acclaim.

Outstanding artist who have performed as part of the Milt Hinton Jazz Perspectives series include Tito Puente, Billy Taylor, Ruth Brown, the Mingus Big Band and, most recently, Chico O’Farrill and Dikki Du and the Zydeco Crew.