Ace, Jack, & King, Take a Listen!

Some heavy heavy blues adorn this enticing cd from American artist Eli Cook. The opener  Death Rattle kicks in with a mighty force and some splendidly filthy harmonica courtesy of the wonderfully named Wavorly Milor, and following, Better Man with its Bo Diddly Rhythm shows off Cook s masterful slide guitar playing.

The frantic pace subsides with Please, Please and Cook s baritone voice sounds deeper than Keb Mo! A pleasing, soothing blues ballad that will charm you as it catches you off guard.

So a mixture of beguiling acoustic blues through to Muddy Water heaviness adorn this album-- a combination of poignancy and toughness using the blues idiom as a positive moral force, take a listen!
                                                                                                                ---Emrys Baird,

                                                                                                                    Blues and Soul Magazine, UK

http://www.bluesandsoul.com/review/1604/eli_cook_ace_jack_and_king/

Eli Cook: A Man Whose Blues Are His Own

Eli Cook

We remember all those souls that carefully watched over us in our formative years. For Eli Cook, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin Wolf, Lightnin  Hopkins and Mississippi John Hurt were the gatekeepers for the riffs that ran through a young Eli s blues soaked head. He began playing at fourteen, performing at blues/gospel shows and revivals in his native Virginia. Eli Cook has grown up, evolving from the blues phenomenom dub of youth into a man whose blues are his own. On Ace, Jack & King he shows the cards are marked for a full frontal assault on the brain. Hair raising guitar sonics open the album with Death Rattle and set the pace/stage/bar for crunchy, swamp crawling distorted blues.  Acoustic finger play and simple rhythms hold down one side of the Eli Cook coin with Catifish Blues, Black Eyed Dog and Suicide King. Push the needle hard in the other direction to find paint peeling, metal teasing electric blues on cuts such as Snake Charm and Crow Jane.

 http://www.thealternateroot.com/alternate-root-weekly-features/alternate-root-artists-of-the-week

"Ace, Jack, & King": A Staggering Piece of Work

Eli Cook wades through dark waters on this splendid blues offering, a staggering piece of work.  Rarely before has blues tradition been so thoroughly soaked up, only to be reworked and authentically and effectively channeled through numerous shades of rock,  never tampering with the authoritative menacing personality of the genre.   Ace, Jack & King takes us through different motions-- a mixed bag of moods and emotions, sometimes catchy and accessible, unlike the aloof, noticeably bad tempered adaptations of pre war blues. And it works like hell!  Eli Cook is constantly experimenting through his playing, and his scattered expeditions into uncharted territories constantly push the boundaries of the blues.

This is ramblin’ in the truest sense of the word. Excitement starts brewing as soon as Death Rattle gets loose, and you suddenly spot the devil bite you arse. Talk about blues with razor sharp fangs, whose intensity is fuelled with outbursts of rudimentary hard rock. Snake Charm freely expands on the devils statement, blending cumbersome riffing and menacing vocals, liberated of even the slightest hint of harmonious likeability. The majority of the album, however, is firmly rooted in the field of acoustic guitar; therefore it remains strained over more or less recognizable musical frame, but nevertheless tends to impress with  an equal amount of originality. Songs like good old Driftin, the mind resting Black Eyed Dog and the Gallagher like Cocaine Blues are trusty couriers of peppery acoustic blues raised in authentic pre war environment. True blues orphans, lost souls with attitude!   Driftin is particularly impressive, due to Cook s slide guitar work and grave vocals which create the song s mournful appeal.

Eli Cook bows to blues great Skip James with a unique rendition of Catfish Blues and the lesser known number Crow Jane. Certainly Cook s distinctive interpretation of the latter may seem odd to orthodox blues followers, still there is no denying the refreshment injected by the gloomy, almost grungy approach. Gutsy maneuver indeed, the one that definitely underlined Eli Cook s exceptional breadth in understanding the blues.
                      --Daniel Pavlick
                        The Rocktologist
www.therocktologist.com/cook-eli---ace-jack--king.html

Half Notes: Eli Cook – Ace, Jack and King (2011

http://somethingelsereviews.com/2011/08/26/half-notes-eli-cook-ace-jack-and-king-2011/Half Notes: Eli Cook – Ace, Jack and King (2011)

An album that starts with this sparks-flying slide, on a song called “Death Rattle,” isn’t fooling around. This, friends, will never be confused with fern-bar blues. That’s obvious, even before Cook opens his mouth to sing — in a voice that’s one part gravel, one part Jack Black and one part shot-gun rows of deep-south dust. Particularly intriguing were a pair of covers of old Skip James tunes, beginning with “Catfish Blues,” a desperate escapist plea. Cook brilliantly downshifts, upping the ante on the original lyric’s slow-burning insistence. Later, he plugs back in for a reverb-soaked take on James’ murder ballad “Crow Jane,” but approaches it with the ominous stomping rhythm of a Zeppelin blues. It invites a similar, almost primitive dread, too.   --Nick DeRiso

5 Star Review from Sea of Tranquility

www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id...
Here we have a young man who, by the age of only eighteen, released his first album called Miss Blues'es Child. Eli is back in 2011 with the fifth output in his career; an awesome fifty minutes disc, Ace, Jack, and King.
Some albums are a grower; others instantly hit the spot . Well, you have another category, not often found, that do both at once, and this new Eli Cook is exactly one of those rare birds-- I could be a very happy reviewer simply concentrating my writing on this type of music alone, even though I enjoy black metal and progressive music, too.  This is down to earth music right from the soul!  True, I have really been into blues for the last couple years, and mostly concentrate my acoustic playing around the bluesy/country/ folk-rock side, but, hell, did I like this album!  You have nine original compositions and five covers on this CD.  Many tracks are of the acoustic-blues style (my favorite), and you have five heavier numbers, too.  For some reason harmonica player Wavorly Milor  makes his appearances only in the heavier songs.
      Eli Cook is an excellent guitar player who can handle the electric as well as the acoustic axe (6-12 strings & resonator), not to mention the mandolin.  His voice is deep and downright bluesy and appears coming from a different era; a definite plus for this young man. Needless to say, I found myself impressed by his acoustic playing, and had the urge to pick up my own guitar after listening this cool disc.  His playing is as bluesy as it can be, whenever handling the acoustic by fingerpicking or the resonator and twelve strings with the slide. Man, this is the stuff; real down and dirty music right from the guts!  Inspiration from the Delta men, early Rolling Stones, and the Allman Brothers abound here, but Eli Cook has come up with his own brew to ease our souls. There are some nice rendition of a couple Skip James' tunes, namely: "Catfish Blues" and "Crow Jane".  He used some studio trick to give "Cocaine Blues" a vintage sound.  But where he really shines is on his own material like: "Better Man" (an irresistible composition I tried to play); the laid back "Please, Please", Afrossippi Breakdown", and the Led Zeppish "Black Eyed Dog" (Nick Drake). Actually, what you will not find on this album is a slightly bad track, just freakin good stuff!
So folks, get your soul & guitar and play those down and dirty blues with Eli Cook!

Added: August 15th 2011
Reviewer: Denis Brunelle
Score:

This Is the Real Deal: "Ace, Jack, & King"

Cook, Eli: Ace, Jack & King

 Cook, Eli: Ace, Jack & King

Blues Rock 5.0/5.0Independent/Unsigned
Website Facebook
by Craig Hartranft,  08.08.2011

Blues music is something difficult to explain, yet immediately recognizable. Guitar skill is certainly required, but feel is equally as importance as substance. You feel the blues in your in your heart and soul, down to the bone. I remember getting my first BB King LP, and then later my Willie Dixon and Robert Johnson box sets. Real American blues, folk, rock, country or otherwise. If you don't know the blues, you probably don't know how to play rock.
Eli Cook knows real American blues, something easily understood on his fifth album Ace, Jack & King. The soul of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Mississippi John Hurt is channeled through his own music and interpretations of the lesser known Skip James, Charles Brown, Rev. Gary Davis and Nick Drake. This music is unembellished, stripped down, and gritty. Driftin', Death Rattle, Better Man, and Snake Charm, to name a few, drip the blood of blues authenticity and soul. But isn't that the essence of American blues, unpretentious and uncomplicated, tearing at the fabric of your life?  You can hear it in Cook's vocals, a mixture of whiskey and winter, and his original fret interpretations. Add Waverly Miller's gritty and anguished harmonica, and Cocaine Blues and Crow Jane will rattle your bones.
On Ace, Jack & King, guitarist Eli Cook offers authentic American blues, pure, simple and entertaining. This is the real deal, and harkens back to the Sixties and Seventies when blues and rock began to converge. Recommended.http://www.dangerdog.com/2011-music-reviews/eli-cook-ace-jack-king-review.php

Eli Cook - Ace, Jack & King

Eli Cook - Ace, Jack & King
Sultry bluesy masculine rock with plenty of loose coolness. Eli Cook was heavily influenced by artists like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Mississippi John Hurt...and it shows. Listening to Ace, Jack & King is kinda like taking a trip back in time to the 1970s when this style of music was really expanding to a much larger audience... Now that the album is released Eli is traveling around to support it. Our guess is that this guy shines brightest in concert. He's got a super slick slide guitar sound and a husky masculine voice that is sexy and heartfelt. Loose bluesy rockers include "Death Rattle," "Suicide King," and "Black Eyed Dog." Cool stuff...

                                                                                                               -www.babysue.com