Herman "Junior" Cook (July 22, 1934 â February 3, 1992) was an American hard bop tenor saxophone player.
Cook was born in Pensacola, Florida. A member of a musical family, he started on alto saxophone before switching to tenor during his high school years.
After playing with Dizzy Gillespie in 1958, Cook was a member of the Horace Silver Quintet (1958âÂÂ1964); when Silver left the group in the hands of Blue Mitchell Cook stayed in the quintet for five more years (1964âÂÂ1969). Later associations included Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, George Coleman, Louis Hayes (1975âÂÂ1976), Bill Hardman (1979âÂÂ1989), and the McCoy Tyner big band.
In addition to many appearances as a sideman, Junior Cook recorded as a leader for Jazzland (1961), Catalyst (1977), Muse, and SteepleChase.
He also taught at Berklee School of Music for a year during the 1970s.
In the early 1990s, Cook was playing with Clifford Jordan, and also leading his own group. His health deteriorated in the late 1980s as a result of cirrhosis and he died in February 1992 in his apartment in New York City, aged 57.
Saxophonist Courtney M. Nero authored "Have Horn, Will Travel: The Life and Music of Herman "Junior" Cook," the first full-length biography of Cook's life and career. The book was published in November 2025 by University of North Texas Press and sheds additional light on Cook's beginnings in Pensacola, his pre-Horace Silver career, and his impact on a generation of young jazz musicians in New York City, especially in the 1980s New York City jam session scene.
With Horace Silver
With Barry Harris
With Bill Hardman
With Freddie Hubbard
With Clifford Jordan
With Blue Mitchell
With others