Saxophonist/singer Braxton Cook has scored an early contender for most provocative album title of the year with the thought-inducing Who Are You When No One Is Watching?
When you hang out and talk with Cook, as Sage Bava and I did recently in Inglewood, California, the title makes a lot of sense. Cook, who has collaborated with Samora Pinderhughes and Jon Batiste and toured with the likes of Robert Glasper and Christian McBride, is like all of those guys, a deep dude.
That comes across in the superb new album, a collection that Cook proudly fills with his real life, of being a first-time dad, being a husband, continuing to find his voice as an artist. But, as you see when he addressed the question on everybody’s mind post Grammys, “Who the f**k is Robert Glasper?” Cook also brings a lot of fun and levity to his thoughtfulness.
Bava and I spoke to Cook about his community of musicians, wanting to do his own festival, family life and much more.
Steve Baltin: For Grammys how did it inspire you to be around all these creative people?
Braxton Cook: One of the most inspiring moments is I got to hang with my friend Jon Batiste. We went to school together and everything, and I hadn’t seen him in a while. It was just good to hear where he’s at and his musical kind of development and the kind of records he’s working on. But still very much sounding how I remember. There are still elements of real music and jazz and solos and stuff, just integrated really intelligently into the music. That was really beautiful and inspiring to see. That plus I ran into Samara [Joy] at the Cory Henry Jam session I was talking about. I finally got to meet her and then to see her win, obviously, both awards was incredible, super inspiring. It’s beautiful to see true jazz musicians, incredible artists and people that really highlight black music and the history that it’s come from. And to see it on that space and that platform. Obviously Batiste won last year, for Album of the Year for We Are. It’s super inspiring. I think we’re all aligned on the same mission, staying true to our influences, honoring the history and tradition that this music comes from. And seeing that we make it relevant in the ways that feel honest and true to who we are. So it’s just dope to see all these people winning.
Baltin: How important is it and inspiring is it to have friends who are successful and you guys keep pushing each other in the healthy way? If you’re playing a festival I know you want to go out there and kick everybody else’s ass on the bill. But you still love and root for each other.
Cook: Exactly, it’s very similar to that. In that, like yeah when we’re on the actual stage I guess, sure that kind of competitive [nature] comes out. Just like wanting to be the best in that moment, but it’s 90 minutes. Outside of that it’s way more community building, real relationships and really supporting people. All of that is very much important. And like I said, it’s inspiring.
Baltin: I love what you were just saying about staying true to the history because Sage and I did an interview together with Robert Glasper. One of the things he said that was so interesting was talking about how important it is that jazz be moved forward. So as you see it grow into a movement where everybody’s pushing it forward, how important is that for jazz as a genre?
Cook: I think it’s everything. I think it’s like what we see Herbie [Hancock] continuing to do. And Quincy [Jones] was another example of someone that’s just been able to do that and continue to evolve. It’s a deep understanding and love for the music and the history, which is super important. It ultimately stems from black music. And black, our experience, and the soul and the blues and the church and all of that’s very much in there. I was just listening to Coltrane on the way here and because I got this interview later about, the Duke Ellington Coltrane record. But, and I’m just listening to it to get into the space. It’s so much soul and blues history. All of that is very much in his sound. I mean a lot of the jazz greats they all have that, but even himself in his own way was pushing things forward in a very spiritual way. But to your point, me and Rob, we go way back. So, Rob’s manager, Vinny from New Orleans, also managed Christian Scott, who I used to tour with when I was back in school with Juilliard. That’s where I met Christian. And then a lot of just through them having the same manager there were a lot of situations really backstage and Rob talking s**t, acting hilarious and Christian and we’re just, getting to hang out. And through that, he’s always collaborating with great artists. There’s Jill Scott coming through, all these incredible musicians and singers and stuff. So like 2021, I’m getting a real sense of this wave of artists that are all about melding these, breaking down the walls between these genres, particularly between this purest strain of jazz and those that are a little bit more progressive. So I’m smack there in the middle, just bright-eyed, trying to pay attention to what’s going on. And Christian’s pushing it down this path as an instrumentalist. And Rob is very much bringing in vocalists and breaking down barriers that way. But at that juncture it just inspired me to artistically want to go down that path and to see it work and to see them build audiences that bridged all generations, all age groups. It was just very empowering. It’s super inspiring.
Baltin: Since you and Rob go way back you can answer the most important question.
Cook: What’s that?
Baltin: Who the f**k is Robert Glasper?
Cook: (Laughter) Hell yeah. Right. That’s crazy. That was wild. That s**t was funny though.Rob’s funny as hell man. He’ll just be on the mic cracking jokes and stuff. He’s hilarious, a funny guy, good dude, super talented. I see him and Terrace [Martin] out here a lot. Last time I saw them I think they were working on that Belair show. But they were just cracking jokes and it’s dope. It’s another thing that’s really cool about L.A. is the writing. I lived 10 years in New York. There’s a lot of playing, a lot of jam sessions and all that but it’s like really cool to step into the studio and see that side of people’s mind. The production, the ideas, the lighting, the scoring, all those different things that other people have their hands in. That’s something I certainly want to do.
Sage Bava: What are you most excited about for this new project to show people?
Braxton Cook: I guess just how much has happened personally in the past few years. I got married, I have a child, got a son he’s one and a half. It’s amazing. It gives you just a deeper purpose behind everything that you do. So this record, yeah, I have songs that I wrote about them, about this stage in my life. It’s something I want to showcase and lean into cause I don’t see it a lot to be honest in my particular field. Just the married kind of family life, that’s something I look around to my left or right I certainly don’t see so much. But it’s something I grew up seeing and I value.
Baltin: As all your values and perspectives change, did you find that starting to emerge in the writing?
Cook: Definitely in the writing, in your time management mainly. I told my agent, “Look, when we tour we’re gonna do two, three weeks and then come home and then break and then pick back up and then do two, three weeks and then break.” Things like that, even that pragmatic kind of scheduling your life out so that you can try and balance it all. I’m going to do what works for us in this particular stage. I’m sure as he gets older it’ll be different when he’s got his own life but for now that’s how I’m trying to navigate it and it works. It works so far. So certainly on the writing, to answer your point, definitely. And playing, like when you play and you improvise, so much just comes out of you in the moment that you can’t even really articulate in other ways. It’s just raw emotion. So it comes out in the play. And then mentally, as a parent, it’s going to push you to a whole other level. You just have to push through all types of whatever to execute and show up. So, yeah, it’s gonna make you better for sure, in every way. In every way.
Bava: As far as finding your voice, literally, and finding your sound, was there a chapter in your life that you feel like you really stepped into that?
Cook: I’d say, the formative years when I was finishing up at school and touring with Christian, touring with Robert, hanging with those artists, that was almost the inception years of like where the seed was planted. I was like, “Okay, this is something I could do.” Then between 2014-2017, after graduating, I started writing a bit more. Obviously influenced from those musicians. And then 2017 is when I first started writing songs so much and singing and putting it all together. So maybe 2017 was probably a pivotal moment. Put out the first record, started touring from there and then I started to create an audience for myself outside of being a side man and writer for other people, if that makes sense. And then just pushing that kind of mission along. So 2017 was just kind of a pivotal year.
Baltin: I love that you’re talking about family and Samora is talking about grief. Do you feel it’s an important thing right now for jazz to start to move forward, to be able to articulate these universal themes?
Cook: It’s certainly very important. I think a lot of people are probably afraid to go that extra mile, like really being vulnerable. I do see, even amongst some super talented musicians sometimes, and I’ve fallen victim to this in moments too, sometimes it’s more comfortable to hide behind technique, ability, certain things like that. To lead with the emotion and story and narrative sometimes can be even more daunting but rewarding. So that’s something I’ve tried to do on this record. I even have a record on there called “The Answer,” very much about grief and about just what I feel like we’ve been through as a society, even me personally, over the past year or two. As artists there was a second where we just thought this s**t was never gonna come back again. And that hit me hard. And I think a lot of musicians really were trying to reconcile with the fact that this could be over. We may not ever tour again. And there’s a lot of grief associated with just having to let go of whatever you envisioned the next few months or next year or whatever in your life. So that’s something I had to come to grips with but it ended up being a beautiful thing. But it takes time, a couple of years, and I think in a lot of ways that’s an under layer of my record too.
Bava: I have such respect for you in that, I feel like all of your projects, you are so aligned with your values and the work that you do with your wife and what your wife does that just like creates this globe of authenticity that people just come to. And I’m curious, beyond music or even with music and other art forms in your life, is there some other dreams that you’re working towards and projects that encapsulate music and social justice like what Samora is doing with creating the shows that are experiences?
Cook: Yeah, absolutely. So, firstly, yeah, me and my wife, we’ve been together like 10 plus, like 10 and a half years. Just growing up together. So it’s Shea, she’s a professor over at LMU, she teaches, she’s in political science. And teaches empirical data analysis but a lot of her research is on race politics, intersectionality. And it’s something that she’s obviously very passionate about. But, so am I, my dad is, this is the literature and academic fodder that we talk about and grew up discussing. So it just makes again a perfect sense that we aligned in that way outside of music. Like we’re aligned on so many values and see things so similarly. And all that comes out in music. A lot of my love songs are about her, but like, even the deeper things, we discussed them for sure. And it can’t help but come out artistically. So in that way yeah, we’re a solid unit. To your point about what I want to do outside of this, I want to develop scoring, composition, writing and find other avenues for my music to reach outside of just being the artist. And on the live side, I want to just create more spaces where I can see myself. I want to do festivals. Like there’s some energy in New York that I missed and I just feel like we’ve got to put together some s**t out here for our generation. I was telling Kiefer and Butcher Brown, all these guys, I’m like, “Bro, we’re all like the young late 20, early 30 something’s. We got to put together a festival in Inglewood that’s our own kind of thing. And just build community.”
Bava: I want to go back to the sound thing because with your distinctive sound as an instrumentalist, incredible, but also you as a singer. Was this always something that you thought would arise as a composer, singer?
Cook: There was a year where I was like, “I’m gonna put this out, but it was always there and it was always a part of the process.” Even all my instrument tunes I wrote originally with the vocal idea. And that was always there, a little bit church you know what I mean? Everybody in my family sings. They sing better than I do. And did a little theater I guess back in the day. And then me and Jahaan [Sweet] used to just make beats when we were in school. We used to make these when I was at Julliard and stuff and I would be singing and like, “Oh bro this is fire.” But I just never really wanted to put it out. At that time I just I couldn’t even get in my head like, “Oh, I can actually sing and release this music or whatever.” It took a minute for me to really expand my mind. It didn’t take until I graduated and I was like, “Alright, we gotta think about the world we’re in and what do I want to do after school and what kind of career do I want to have?” And like I said I wanted to make music that my younger self would’ve loved. And that includes everything I grew up listening to. R&B, soul, jazz, gospel all these different things. Just took all of it combined.
Bava: So who’s been your favorite collaborator and who’s someone that you’d love to collaborate with?
Cook: That is tough. Kiefer was great. We did a record, a joint project out on Stones Throw I think last year. But we made the songs in like 10 minutes. We just we get each other. I’ve got to do something with Anderson Paak. I did horns one night for Mac Miller, rest in peace, A lot of people from Virginia, I’m from Maryland but like a lot of Virginia cats, they’re great. All of them. Missy, Tim, like all of them so good.