Cookie Coogan (nee Lauri Robinson) arrived in the Central New York region as an undergraduate student at Ithaca College in 1984. While earning degrees in music education, she pursued her passion for jazz in the school’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble directed by professor Dave Riley, and through study/performance with IC’s Director of Jazz Studies, guitarist Steve Brown. After graduation, she settled in Ithaca and established a career as a performer and teacher. She is currently in her 11th year of leading the Ithaca College Vocal Jazz Ensemble. She also teaches jazz improvisation at IC and jazz singing at Cornell University.   Cookie performs frequently in a variety of venues and contexts. In addition to leading her own bands, other regional bands frequently invite her to be a guest vocalist. She has performed as a featured soloist with the Central New York Jazz Orchestra, the Salt City Jazz Collective, the Catskill Symphony Orchestra, Gap Mangione , the Voices Multicultural Choir (Ithaca), the Ithaca Ageless Jazz Band and many others. She is active in the education community as a clinician, guest conductor/artist, and private instructor.