About
Braxton Cook plays alto saxophone the way most people breathe, naturally and constantly, but what sets him apart is how comfortably his jazz sits alongside hip hop and R&B. The New Jersey based musician started releasing music independently in 2014 and has since built a catalog that moves from soulful instrumentals to his own vocals, sometimes within the same track. He has toured and recorded with Christian Scott, Christian McBride, and Marquis Hill, and his performances alongside Jon Batiste contributed to the Pixar film Soul, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Cook's fingerprints turn up in unexpected places too. His former Juilliard roommate Jahaan Sweet used a vocal sample from Cook in the production of "Lavender Haze", the opening track on Taylor Swift's album Midnights, earning Cook an additional producer credit. His 2023 album Who Are You When No One Is Watching came out on Nettwerk, and he followed it up with Not Everyone Can Go in 2025. A regular at NPR's Tiny Desk, he has performed there so many times that NPR called him a "Tiny Desk all star".
