“Cookin’ at the Cookery: The Music and Times of Alberta Hunter” is an excellent example of how musical biographies can succeed at evoking a life, letting the subject — in this case the great blues singer Alberta Hunter — come alive through narrative and song.

The danger in this kind of biography is that it may become a static recollection of the entertainer’s friends and the places he or she performed. Writer/director Marion Caffey avoids this pitfall, creating a script with plenty of action, exploring Hunter’s personal strengths, particularly her close relationship with her mother.