A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One Studios in the 1970s.
[4] He took up the tenor saxophone at eleven, as a pupil at the Alpha School, and eventually joined Eric Deans' Orchestra.
[3] In 1954, he left for an engagement in Nassau, Bahamas, after which he ended up in Miami, Florida, and it was here that McCook first heard John Coltrane and fell in love with jazz.
[3] In 1968, he led Tommy McCook & The Supersonics, featuring Jackie Jackson on bass guitar.
[5] When McCook was bandleader for The Supersonics, the band included Jackie Jackson (bassist) and drummer Paul Douglas, who became the rhythm section for Toots and the Maytals, when the era of reggae emerged from rocksteady.