Album Review: Not Everyone Can Go by Braxton Cook
Braxton Cook stands at the crossroads of jazz and contemporary R&B, and the entire album thrives in that liminal space, reflecting on their own seasons of change and the light that can follow.
Not Everyone Can Go sprouts from a period of intense personal upheaval and growth. In the year leading up to this project, Braxton Cook was seemingly everywhere—touring across Europe, Asia, and the U.S.—while navigating new fatherhood and the soul-searching that comes with it. The breakneck schedule and the birth of his children forced a hard look at what mattered most. “Not Everyone Can Go is about letting go of what no longer serves me during this stage of life,” Cook has said, reflecting on the friendships, habits, and old aspirations he needed to shed to move forward. That transitional mindset seeps directly into the music. He likened the album’s feel to “bright evening sunshine, when the temperature begins to cool,” and yet there’s a restless, open-hearted energy running through the grooves.
On the title track—an instrumental opener—airy saxophone harmonies ride blistering drums and atmospheric guitars, creating a nervous pulse that greets change with arms wide open. From the outset, Not Everyone Can Go announces itself as both a personal and musical journey, moving from glowing soul-jazz grooves to improvisations that wear their emotions on the surface. Cook stands at the crossroads of jazz and contemporary R&B, and the album thrives in that space. It’s a deliberate blend he has pursued for years, and here he doubles down. The production balances in-the-pocket warmth—buttery keys, laid-back bass lines—with the spontaneity of a live session. This was the most collaborative recording process of his career. Working within Los Angeles’s broad musical network, he invited players and producers to improvise freely and let the energy move as it needed.
You can hear that freedom in the instrumental centerpieces—“Zodiac,” “Kingdom Come,” “My Sun,” and “Josh’s Tune.” These wordless tracks serve as emotional anchors, each one a scene of pure feeling rendered in sound. “Josh’s Tune,” co-created with bassist Joshua Crumbly, unfolds as a progressive jazz odyssey of stutter-step rhythm and fluid melody. Cook’s alto sits front and center, threading gentle motifs and impassioned runs, captured live in one take. “None of us knew where it was going,” he noted of that session, happy they caught “that live, raw magic” on tape. The same spirit runs through the other instrumentals. “Zodiac” shimmers with a cosmic tilt, its roots tracing back to Cook’s fascination with Mary Lou Williams’s Zodiac Suite. “My Sun” beams with soulful radiance, its piano-and-sax dialogues as tender as a parent’s lullaby. In these moments without lyrics, the band’s chemistry and Cook’s horn become the voice, carrying resolve, longing, and hope in a language beyond words.
If the instrumentals are reflective soliloquies, the vocal tracks are intimate conversations. Cook’s own silky voice moves easily through them, and he opens space for collaborators who broaden the palette without diluting the core. NNAVY lends warm, honeyed vocals to “Weekend,” a song about the push-and-pull of balancing love and work. There’s a breezy, late-night R&B feel here—gentle backbeat, shimmering keys—and Cook’s plea for a reset gives the track its center. On “All My Life,” Danish singer Marie Dahlstrom shares the spotlight with Cook, her tone wrapping around his in a promise of devotion. The song moves as a euphoric blend of contemporary jazz, alt-R&B, and neo-soul. Together they trade lines about commitment—“I just wanna love you all my life, give you all my heart”—turning the track into a celebration of renewed connection.
Behind the scenes, a small circle of producers shapes distinct corners of the record. Bubele brings late-’90s R&B warmth to “Bad,” which rides a slow, body-rolling groove and lush electric piano. Austin “Hablot Brown” Brown gives “We’ve Come So Far” a pop-friendly sheen and a buoyant, optimistic bounce. Kaveh Rastegar of Kneebody adds low-end character and harmonic lift to “All My Life.” Throughout it all, Cook’s alto serves as the narrator, swooping in and out of the vocals, and his songwriting keeps the project cohesive. The guests deepen the color while respecting the contours of his sound. The record never lands like a patchwork; it feels of a piece.
Beyond its sound, Not Everyone Can Go unfolds as a clear narrative of personal reckoning. The arc runs from tension to healing, mirroring the journey Cook lived through. Early on, “My Everything” lays out the conflict: the ache of a man who has been “selfishly follow[ing] his own dreams at the sake of missing the big picture.” Over a mid-tempo groove shaded with melancholy, he pleads for understanding—“Will you be my everything?”—even as he owns up to distance and distraction. He placed “My Everything” near the front to establish the conflict, and it sets an introspective tone of regret and resolve. The follow-up with “Harboring Feelings” uses plainspoken yet emotionally weighted lyrics to explore the tension in a relationship. The words are direct, focusing on the difficulty of communication and the fatigue that comes from unresolved emotions.
The story moves through doubt and self-examination before it finds a turn. Midway comes “We’ve Come So Far,” which arrives like a deep breath. It’s a moment of gratitude—a pop-leaning lift that says, “We’re going to be all right.” Bright melody, harmonized vocals, and a loping bass line underscore appreciation for progress made despite the rough spots. That sunlight opens the door for the second half, where forgiveness, romance, and renewal move to the center. Braxton’s singing is smooth, mellow, and effortlessly soulful. His delivery has a certain tenderness and vulnerability, reminiscent of classic soul and jazz vocalists. He glides over the melody with a light touch, balancing between singing and the emotive subtlety of almost speaking through the notes. You hear moments of technical precision—weaving in gentle riffs and warm sustained notes—without ever overcomplicating the flow, as showcased on “I Just Want You,” “Bad,” and “BAP.”
“Bad” channels late-‘90s R&B as Cook sings about courting his wife all over again, determined to “fight for love” rather than let it flicker out. The sensual, slow-burn arrangement—simmering rhythm, playful falsetto ad-libs—makes the intent feel personal. “All My Life” functions as the emotional culmination: Cook and Dahlstrom trade vows—“you will always have my heart, all my life”—as the music swells with the hope of two people rediscovering each other after the storm. Taken together, these songs form a cohesive story of growth and reconnection. They name the tension and regret, then focus on the practice of repair.
With “Josh’s Tune” closing the set, the lyrics fall away, as if to signal that the resolution sits beyond words. The hurt has been aired out, the love reaffirmed; what remains is a space to feel and reflect. Not Everyone Can Go is a personal document that also sits comfortably within today’s cross-pollinated landscape, where jazz, R&B, and soul speak freely to each other. What stands out is how naturally Cook moves among these currents. The making of the album was a creative breakthrough for him, pushing deeper into collaboration and spontaneity. You can hear that liberation in the flow: the openness of a jam session married to the focus of a songwriter intent on telling a story.
There’s a maturity in the writing that reflects the life changes behind it. The songs wrestle with real conflict and change, yet they’re free of bitterness. Gratitude and hope lead. “Even through change, there’s so much to be thankful for,” Cook reminds us. In shedding what no longer served him, he made room for a record brimming with love—love of family, of music, of growth itself. Not Everyone Can Go invites listeners to consider their own seasons of change and the light that can follow. The result is a warm, richly textured album that lands like a deep exhale—an ode to embracing change and coming out the other side all right.
Great (★★★★☆)
Favorite Track(s): “My Everything,” “All My Life,” “Josh’s Tune”