Braxton Cook — When artist, singer, songwriter, producer, and
multi-instrumentalist Braxton Cook began working on Not Everyone Can Go, his life was full of transitions he couldn’t ignore. After a whirlwind year touring across Europe, Asia, and the U.S., he reflected on the difficulty of juggling career and family. “It was a lot to manage,” he says. A theme emerged: it was OK to let go of things no longer serving him. Stepping into fatherhood, he realized transitions were natural. “There’s grief that comes along with having to let certain things go to make time for the things I truly value.”
You can hear Cook breaking through on Not Everyone Can Go, a blend of jazz and R&B indebted to the hybrids of yesteryear. The album conjures images of bright evening sunshine, when the temperature begins to cool. Not quite Quiet Storm, it lives between the margins—true to Cook’s signature. Across albums like Somewhere In Between, he’s blurred genre lines, creating music that resists labels—and that’s what makes it so compelling.

Butcher Brown — Virginia’s deep cultural roots run through Butcher Brown’s music. Trumpeter/saxophonist Marcus Tenney recalls long drives across the state, “soaking up the sights, the foliage,” experiences that quietly shaped the band’s sound. Bassist Andrew Randazzo agrees: “All that stuff seeps into the music.”

Across 15 years, the Richmond quintet, Tenney, Randazzo, Corey Fonville, Morgan Burrs, and DJ Harrison, has merged jazz, hip-hop, soul, funk, and R&B into a lane all their own. Their newest album, Letters from the Atlantic (on Concord Jazz), plays like an East Coast travelogue, from the Chesapeake Bay to New York and down to Florida. Recorded at Spacebomb Studios with producer Alex De Jong, the project leans into house, dance, and jazz influences while highlighting a remarkable cast of guests, including Melanie Charles, Leanor Wolf, Mia Gladstone, Yaya Bey, Victoria Victoria, Nicholas Payton, and Neal Francis.

From the serene opener “Seagulls” to a celestial take on Wayne Shorter’s “Infant Eyes,” the album captures Butcher Brown’s evolving, instinctive artistry honest, unforced, and distinctly their own.