Charles L. Cooke, September 3, 1891 – December 25, 1957 was an American jazz arranger and bandleader who also performed under the stage name Doc Cook. Cook, unlike many jazz musicians who used advanced degrees to identify their monikers, was awarded a Doctorate of Music by Chicago Musical College in 1926. He was born in Louisville and worked in Detroit as an arranger and composer before moving to Chicago in 1910. Cook was the resident conductor and music director of Paddy Harmon’s Dreamland Ballroom orchestra in Chicago between 1922-1927. There were many names for the ensemble, including Cookie’s Gingersnaps and Doc Cook and his 14 Doctors of Syncopation and Doc Cook’s Dreamland Orchestra. Cook’s band included Freddie Keppard and Jimmie Noone as well as Johnny St. Cyr and Zutty Singleton. Andrew Hilaire was also a member. Cook’s orchestra performed in Chicago at the White City Ballroom and the Municipal Pier after 1927. Cook made his move to New York City in 1930. He was an arranger at Radio City Music Hall and RKO. This position lasted until the 1940s. Cook had many important orchestration credits on Broadway, including The Hot Mikado (1939), and The Boy Friend’s first U.S. production in 1954 in collaboration with Ted Royal. He was a strong advocate of ragtime and he worked often with Eubie Blake to arrange the arrangements for Shuffle Along’s 1952 revival. Cook recorded 6 sides in Gennett’s early 1924. He was then known as Cookie’s Gingersnaps and recorded 4 sides in OKeh’s June 1926. From wikipedia
