Louis Cole is part of the jazz ecosystem led by saxophonist Kamasi Washington, founded in the 2000s with Thundercat, Miles Mosley, Cameron Graves and many others. Creators who wanted to mix jazz with more pop music: funk, hip-hop, R&B, in an urban southern Californian atmosphere.
Louis Cole is first a drummer, became a multi-instrumentalist, then a composer and arranger. He claims as much inspiration from the Beach Boys and Stevie Wonder as from experimental jazz. Nothing is his fifth solo album, produced in collaboration with the Metropol Orkest based in the Netherlands. For eight decades, this symphony orchestra has made a specialty of accompanying pop and jazz musicians, from Elvis Costello to Jacob Collier, Snarky Puppy and Brian Eno.
Led by the British Jules Buckley, the Metropol Orkest does not just accompany artists. It often transforms their music with bold arrangements, which are completely different from one artist to another.
For Nothing, the fusion between Louis Cole and the orchestra is total, for these seventeen pieces whose duration varies from one minute and twenty-four seconds to eleven minutes and eleven seconds. Except two songs from previous albums, all the material for Nothing is original. We go from ethereal orchestral music to funk prog that Robert Fripp, the founding guitarist of King Crimson, would not disavow. At the center of this proposition, we also find the voice of Genevieve Artadi, omnipresent throughout the album, who has worked with Cole for more than a decade.
Nothing demonstrates Louis Cole’s ambitions to make increasingly complex music, while offering catchy choruses and, sometimes, dance music. One thing is certain, this album is anything but Nothing. Louis Cole seems to enjoy choosing titles that evoke nothing: Who Cares, Doesn’t Matter, It All Passes. Dark humor?
The album is not perfect. I found some of the Metropol Orkest’s arrangements too obvious, not subtle enough. There are some long pieces. But, overall, it is a very successful experience, which requires a thorough listening. Louis Cole and the Orkest have toured and will tour in Europe. As for North America, it remains to be seen. Let’s hope!
