’m embarrassed to say I knew nothing about The Cookers before receiving these LPs, the group's sixth album. Together for fourteen years, The Cookers is a septet made up of A-list musicians who, taken as a group, represent over 25 decades of experience in the jazz world, spread over thousands of recordings: Billy Harper, tenor sax; Donald Harrison, alto sax; Eddie Henderson, trumpet; David Weiss, trumpet; George Cables, piano; Cecil McBee, bass; and Billy Hart, drums. Most of those names will be familiar to jazz fans. All of them have earned their stripes playing in groups led by icons such as Charles Lloyd, Lee Morgan, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, Herbie Hancock, Roy Haynes and Charles Tolliver. Whew! No wonder the songs, arrangements and solos are stitched together so well. These guys have chops, displaying the energy and imagination of much younger players (the youngest Cooker is 57, the oldest 86).

Consistent with the lineage of the musicians, the recording and mastering also reveal their heritage. The tracks were laid down at the iconic, timber-lined Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, in August of 2020 amid the health safeguards dictated by a raging pandemic. Maureen Sickler, longtime associate of Rudy Van Gelder, engineered the sessions. The album was mastered using Decca and Telefunken tube equalizers and limiters, respectively. The lacquers were cut from tape at Gearbox Studio by Casper Sutton-Jones and Darrel Sheinman on a Haeco Scully lathe driven by Westrex RA 1700 amps and a Westrex 3DIIA cutting head. Monitoring was done using Audio Note gear.

That this release is aimed at the audiophile market is a given, with the producers spending the time to ensure a quality recording. And a quality recording it is: flat, heavyweight vinyl with clean and quiet surfaces (courtesy of Optimal), you-are-there presence, air, and what sounds like a hands-off approach to production and engineering. The result is sound that will nail you to your seat, if the volume is set high enough. The presentation is also first-rate, with informative notes by British journalist Kevin Le Gendre inside the beautiful gatefold jacket, a highlight of which is the full-color group shot of the band beneath the cedar-and-fir ceiling of the Van Gelder Studio. The music is spread over three sides; a first (for me) are the signatures of the band members etched onto side D of the set.

Look Out! features seven numbers written by Cookers George Cables (three), Billy Harper (two) and Cecil McBee (two). Six of the seven were arranged by the group’s founder, David Weiss; “Somalia” was arranged by tenor saxophonist Billy Harper. The album leads off with an original by pianist George Cables entitled “The Mystery of Monifa Brown.” After an intriguing piano intro amid an array of splash cymbals, the song takes off with some of the best in-unison horn playing I’ve heard. The band negotiates the tricky, serpentine line of the theme with nary a fault and lots of fire. After the band has demonstrated their prowess, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison charges out of the gate with a rousing solo, followed by David Weiss on trumpet. Cables follows with a fine solo, after which the ensemble comes in with the theme, carrying it out to the end. Tenor player Billy Harper’s “Destiny Is Ours” is next and features him on a Coltranesque solo brought back to earth with Weiss’s trumpet and Cables’ piano. Cecil McBee’s angular “Cat’s Out The Bag” is another tune featuring outstanding ensemble playing and exciting solos by Harrison, Eddie Henderson and Cables. The insistent rhythm and chants of “Somalia” lead to a blazing solo from Harper, a more centered solo from Weiss and the reliably excellent Cables, before it ends rather abruptly. The mellow “AKA Reggie” restores tranquility, grace and beauty as it flows lusciously into Harrison’s alto-sax solo and Cables’ luxurious piano. “Traveling Lady” is a galloping, straight-ahead, four-to-the-bar blowing session with more precise ensemble playing and edge-of-your-seat solos from Weiss, Harrison and Cables. The bass, drum and piano intro to “Mutima” brings the album’s closer to an end with graceful, melodic solos from Weiss, Harper and Cables, after which the band again states the theme before a brief, chaotic moment leads to a quiet ending.