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Tommy McCook (4 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a significant Jamaican saxophone player and a founding member of influential bands in the ska genre. Born in Havana, Cuba, he moved to Jamaica in 1933 when his father worked on the Panama Canal. McCook received a solid musical education at Alpha School and began his career in 1943 with the Eric Dean Orchestra, one of Jamaica's top bands at the time. He later joined Don Hitchman's sextet, one of the first Jamaican bands to be recorded in the early 1950s. In the early fifties, he was a soloist in Roy Coburn's Blu-Flames, a prominent Jamaican band before The Skatalites. McCook moved to Nassau, Bahamas, in 1954 to perform in clubs and later relocated to Miami, Florida, in 1956, where he was introduced to jazz music. Influenced by jazz artists, he returned to Jamaica in 1962 and became known for incorporating jazz into ska music. He participated in regular jam sessions with notable musicians, which led to the formation of The Skatalites in June 1964. The band produced numerous instrumental recordings and supported many of Jamaica's vocalists. However, after a tragic incident in 1965, the band disbanded. McCook then produced records for Reid's label and formed a new band, which dissolved during a trip to Montreal in 1969. In 197

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