Jesse Cook Returns To The State Theatre, 4/21

For the first time in three years "nuevo flamenco" guitar virtuoso Jesse Cook will return to the State Theatre in Easton for a performance on Saturday, April 21st. This is part of his concert tour in conjunction with his tenth album - Beyond Borders - which was released in August.

Show time is 7:30 PM. Tickets are $31 and can be purchased by visiting the State Theatre Box Office, 453 Northampton Street, Easton, by calling 1-800-999-STATE, 610-252-3132 or online at www.statetheatre.org.

Jesse Cook is a Canadian guitarist, composer, and producer. Widely considered one of the most influential figures in "nuevo flamenco" music, he incorporates elements of flamenco rumba, jazz & many forms of world music into his work. He is a Juno Award winner, Acoustic Guitar (magazine)'s Player's Choice Award silver winner in the Flamenco Category, and a three-time winner of the Canadian Smooth Jazz award for Guitarist of the Year. He has recorded on the EMI, E1 Music and Narada labels and has sold over 1.5 million records.

Jesse's music has been featured on several episodes of Sex and The City, The Chris Isaak Show and several Olympic Games. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Irina Slutskaya of Russia won a bronze medal skating to Cook's composition "Mario Takes a Walk". More recently Canada's Gabrielle Daleman, and Russian pairs Stolbova and Klimov's skated to Jesse's music in their routines at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.

Cook has traveled the globe looking for sounds that resonate with him. On his new album, Beyond Borders, he continues his journey, playing music without any cultural or geographical boundaries. "I like music that provides a common ground for different traditions, a space where music from all historical eras and parts of the world can mingle," Cook explains. "On this album, and One World, my last record, I began to realize that you can go anywhere on earth, without moving. There are many borders in our lives. Some have been built by others, some we create for ourselves, but whenever I ventured beyond the borders of my life, I have been the better for it."

Beyond Borders took two and a half years to make, with every track created to Cook's own meticulous standards. He writes, records and arranges the music, creating templates with deep emotional foundations, before inviting collaborators to add nuance and shading to the compositions. "Everything on this album comes from my own experience. I was going through a difficult period in my life and it blew the door of my imagination wide open. I went for a huge sound, without limits. I threw away the rules, trying to find places I'd never been before, and I got there. The sad songs are sadder, the rhythms are more intricate, the sounds mashed up to look at traditional patterns in a new way."

For more information on Jesse Cook, visit www.jessecook.com.

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