Braxton Cook: Live at The Blue Note Los Angeles [SHOW REVIEW]
- 18 hours ago
- 3 min read
Show Review by Marí Cardenas
A few months back, Braxton Cook headlined two nights at the historic Blue Note jazz club in Los Angeles. Penny writer Marí Cardenas takes us back in this retrospective review.
Braxton Cook — a multi-instrumentalist post-bop jazz, neo-soul, and 90s-inspired R&B jazz musician — played two mesmerizing nights in September, less than a month after the Blue Note’s grand opening in Los Angeles; and it was nothing short of historic. After getting his start touring and producing with Grammy-nominated trumpeter Christian Scott while still going to school at Juilliard, Cook’s career has been marked by accolades and collaborations that span genres: from Masego to Taylor Swift (he even earned a Grammy certificate for his work with Swift). He’s an artist to watch and is often described as one of the most versatile musicians of our time.
To experience Braxton Cook in this intimate setting was something else. In front of the velvet curtains sat a piano, a drum kit, and a single mic. Tables glowed with candlelight, and around the bar hung black-and-white portraits of jazz icons: from Ray Charles to Anderson .Paak.
This performance was also “something else” for a number of reasons. First, let’s address the elephant in the room: THE BLUE NOTE! A space that’s been a cornerstone of the jazz community since 1981, hosting both legends and new players. This is the same jazz club where Dizzy Gillespie once played A Night in Tunisia. Imagine hearing that trumpet solo live: the one that makes you feel like you’ve wandered into a Hey Arnold episode (the one where they take the wrong bus and end up in a fever dream night). From jazz junkies to regular Joe Shmoes, it’s known that Blue Note is the moment. And for Cook, it’s personal. He even performed at the debut of Blue Note Tokyo, so his LA appearance must have felt like a night that stepped right into the lineage of jazz history, too.
Cook, fresh off the release of his album Not Everyone Can Go, shared a bit about where the project came from, and the labor of love that went into rebuilding relationships through career transitions and distance. As he once told an interviewer for the GRAMMY Museum, the album explores him “rebuilding these relationships the way that [he] wants and the way that [he] sees them”. You could feel that intention throughout the night. These themes hit even harder also knowing that he’s a husband and father, with his son August sitting proudly in the crowd; knowing, too, that he made it through these emotions with love at the forefront and reaping these benefits.
Cook moved fluidly through his discography that evening, performing tracks like “No Doubt" and ballad “When You Hold Me”. At one point, he even picked up an electric guitar; something he taught himself to play during the pandemic. Just to try something new. That’s the thing about Braxton: he’s endlessly curious. One minute he’s on alto sax, the next on soprano, then flute, then singing. (Is there any instrument this man can’t play?)
Before performing “MB (For Ma’Khia Bryant)”, he paused to reflect on the protests and collective uprising for Black lives during the pandemic: a time marked by grief, urgency, and resistance in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant. The storytelling in his music (and historically, in jazz itself) has always been tied to that same resistance: to create, perform, and speak, no matter what. “Protect Black lives”, he said. The solidarity, the freedom, the protest — all of it — felt amplified in this historic venue, within a genre born from struggle and transformation.
His band (Paul Reinhold on bass, Mathis Picard on keys, and Jonathan Pinson on drums) played like they shared one heartbeat, free to explore even within the arranged songs. Each musician had a moment to take the lead: the drummer went wild, the pianist layered soulful runs, the bassist grounded everything with deep, steady rhythm. Braxton let each of them shine, embodying that true jazz spirit of collaboration and exploration.
The set was both tight and unpredictable; even cinematic at times. It was a night that I will remember.
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