Riley started playing on a guitar he won in a raffle when he was 12 years old. He quickly learned all of the songs in his cassette collection by ear and went on to study as the first full-scholarship graduate student of the San Francisco Conservatory. He’s toured as a classical guitarist and collaborated with musicians the likes of Zakir Hussain, Dawn Upshaw, the San Francisco Symphony and many others, including his famous father.
Ziporyn, who studied composition at Eastman, Yale and UC Berkeley, spent a lot of time in the ’80s studying traditional gamelan in Bali. In 1987, he was involved with the first Bang on a Can Marathon in New York and remained involved with BOCA for the next 25 years, eventually spearheading the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Through the All-Stars, Ziporyn toured the globe, performed over 100 commissioned works and with musicians such as Ornette Coleman, Brian Eno, Philip Glass and Meredith Monk. He eventually founded his own 25-piece gamelan ensemble, Galak Tika, which led to a series of ground-breaking compositions for western instruments and gamelan. In 1990, Ziporyn joined the music faculty at MIT and is currently the head of the music department and the new director of MIT’s recently founded Center for Art, Science and Technology.
It turns out that each of Eviyan’s three musicians has had some prior contact with either the area or utilized Cook’s audio skills in the past. So, it’s a small world after all.
Hailing from the boston area, ziporyn had worked at Cook’s Area 52 Studios in the past as a collaborator on other friends’ musical projects, as had Bittová, who relocated from her native Czech Republic to Rhinebeck in 2007. Both were so impressed with the studio and Cook’s expertise that when the time came to work on the Eviyan’s CD project, it seemed like the natural place to record. Cook was introduced to Riley a few years ago at Bard College, while serving as a live engineer for Riley’s father. The younger Riley played on that gig. Cook found him impressive.
Cook, also proprietor of Woodstock Recording Workshop and Hudson Valley Audio, has been based in Saugerties on the Markertek Campus for the past three years. Actively engaged in the sound business since he was 19, he earned his chops working in the recording industry in New York before relocating to Woodstock to work at Dreamland recording studios as chief engineer in 1985.
Over the years, he’s worked with some pretty heavy-hitters in the music industry including Graham Parker & The Rumour, Laurie Anderson, Natalie Merchant, Carly Simon, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Elvis Costello, the Charles Mingus Orchestra, Todd Rundgren, Ravi and Anoushka Shankar, Bar Scott, Medeski, Martin and Wood, and assorted African artists including Khaira Arby, Mamadou Kelly, Imarhan and Festival au Dessert. Cook has served these artists as either a touring front-of-the-house engineer, tour manager, recording engineer, or record producer.
In the past Cook spent much of his non-studio time on the road, working as a freelance recording engineer from coast to coast. Now he’s focused his energy on the further development of his studio, spending only about half the year on the road. He speaks fondly of his latest acquisition: a 1997 Steinway B grand piano. He’s planning on building a new isolation booth for drums and hopes to attract jazz trios to record at the studio.
According to Cook, working with Eviyan “was very satisfying and pleasurable.”
He knew it was going to be a little challenging. “They were free and didn’t want to be in isolation booths, so I honored that. The communication was musically and technically perfect. There’s a lot wrapped up in the music of Eviyan… classical, free jazz, Monk. It’s the Eviyan genre.”
The Eviyan session at Area 52 was quickly followed by a recording session with an African group from Mali. They, too, were returning clients. Cook’s current roster, of which he says there are at least 12 acts that regularly use his services, are a balance of groups both local and from out of town. Other regulars include the string quartet Ethel and cellist Maya Beiser.
Staying afloat in the ever-evolving recording industry—with many musicians opting for a do-it-yourself approach in this age of digital advancement—really isn’t a problem for Cook.
“Coming to a studio with a properly designed room and an experienced engineer allows the artist to focus more on the music and less on the technical aspects,” he said. “With my client base, word of mouth is a big factor in keeping me busy.” That and the fact that Cook also maintains a multi-faceted approach to the business which includes offering live sound services, recording classes through his Woodstock Recording Workshop and doing wireless music system installations for both the home and office.
Of Saugerties, both the musicians of Eviyan and Cook himself have nothing but praise.
“My wife and I fell in love with the area and the village,” said Cook, who moved to Saugerties from Woodstock ten years ago.
Ziporyn agrees. “Saugerties is a very cool little town. We like the antique stores, the food, the vibe, the quirky people. It’s a nice place to walk around.”
Do the musicians of Eviyan plan to return? Absolutely. Ziporyn plans to be back in just a couple of weeks to work on yet another project at the studio. Cook says that tends to happen.
For more information, visit www.eviyan.org or www.area-52-studios.com.
