Cooke's Tour is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, released in May 1960 in by RCA Victor.[1][2][3]Cooke's Tour was the singer's first album on the RCA Victor label.
The album was remastered in 2011 as a part of The RCA Albums Collection.
As Keen's marketing was limited, Sam Cooke began to shop around to other labels in February 1960. Interest was immediate from labels such as Atlantic and Capitol, but Cooke signed with Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore at RCA Victor, who offered a $100,000 advance.[4] RCA Victor had previously signed Jesse Belvin, Della Reese and The Isley Brothers, and Peretti and Creatore were set on making Cooke an international album artist.[4]
Cooke's Tour, recorded on March 2 and 3, 1960, is an "adventurous travelogue" that explores various territories around the world.[4]Glen Osser wrote arrangements and conducted the album's orchestra, which was an R&B rhythm section and a fifteen-piece string ensemble. Cooke was closest to the album's final track, "The House I Live In," as he had just moved into his dream home in Leimert Park, Los Angeles.[4]
Hinda Barnett, Arcadie Berkenholz, James Bloom, Fred Buidrini, Morris Lefkowitz, Felix Orlewitz, Frank Siegfried, Ralph Silverman, Harry Urbont, Paul Winter, James Bloom, Anthony DiGirolamo, Ben Miller, David Nadien – violin
