*PLEASE NOTE: All 7PM and 9PM shows at Smoke are Dinner Shows $35|$40|$50|$55 Eddie Henderson – trumpet David Weiss – trumpet Donald Harrison – alto saxophone Azar Lawrence – tenor saxophone George Cables – piano Cecil McBee – bass Billy Hart – drums “Player for player, there’s no better working band in jazz than The Cookers.” - The Boston Globe The all-star septet, The Cookers, features a lineup replete with celebrated jazz masters: Eddie Henderson, Azar Lawrence, Cecil McBee, George Cables, and Billy Hart are all legendary artists who arrived on the scene during the fertile, exploratory 1960s. They were historic contributors to some of the most groundbreaking and important bands of that era and have been major artists in the years since. David Weiss and Donald Harrison are the youngest members of the group but share many of the same formative experiences, working most notably with Art Blakey, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Tolliver, Roy Haynes, and Herbie Hancock. The band’s repertoire draws on some of the well-known and lesser-known compositions from their incredible collective catalogs. The Los Angeles Times writes, “This hard-hitting septet wears its name like a mission statement. Rich with a mix of classic elegance and exploration, the group might reference the past by name, but it never sounds less than current.” The New York Times calls them “A dream team of forward-leaning hard-bop.”