Guitarist Jesse Cook is widely known for infusing different cultural elements into his music.
His interest in world music began as a teenager.
“What got me hooked on this as a teenager was my idol Peter Gabriel,” said Cook, adding that Gabriel integrated a lot of world music into his songs.
On previous albums, Cook said he would go into the studio and start writing. The routine started to make Cook feel like he had done the music before, so for the Blue Guitar Sessions album he decided to step away from his routine.
“It’s good to throw a wrench in the works – change patterns,” he said.
He created songs for the Blue Guitar Sessions when he was on vacation. He brought along a tape recorder and wrote a song every day.
For his latest album One World, he started playing a loop and would arrange different elements on his computer.
“I wanted it to feel like it was a pan-global experience with elements of not only all sorts of cultures, but different time periods,” said Cook about One World.
He includes electronic scores with ancient instruments from different cultures and time periods on the album.
Cook is touring across Vancouver Island as part of his One World tour, promoting his latest album.
He performs during a sold-out show in Nanaimo at the Port Theatre Saturday (Nov. 12) at 7:30 p.m.
Tonight he performs in Courtenay at the Sid Williams Theatre, on Nov. 11 he performs in Sidney at the Charlie White Theatre and Nov. 13 he performs in Duncan at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre.
For more information about Cook, please go to www.jessecook.com.