Louis Cole Scores GRAMMY Nom for Best Alternative Jazz Album; Announces Tour Dates

Louis Cole’s album Quality Over Opinion (Brainfeeder) has been nominated for Best Alternative Jazz Album at the upcoming 66th annual GRAMMY Awards ceremony, scheduled to take place on Monday February 5th, 2024.

Today, Cole also announces a string of live concertsfor 2024 with support from longtime collaborator Genevieve Artadi, with tickets on-sale starting November 17th.

20 tracks deep, Quality Over Opinion was written, performed and produced on his own in his modest home studio in Los Angeles, but Cole did invite a handful of close friends to contribute, namely Genevieve Artadi (“my no.1 music collaborator”); saxophonist Sam Gendel – Cole’s friend for 17 years; pianist Chris Fishman; Nate Wood from the band Kneebody; Marlon Mackey (“a pillar of the Bakersfield music scene”); and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel.

“This album is a representation of me trying to make the best, most powerful and listenable music I can. For myself and also others,” Cole says.

Cole’s main instrument is the drums and he has a background in jazz although the music he writes bears little resemblance to jazz in any pure or classical sense. His connection to the movement is more conceptual: “The root of jazz is pure freedom… no limits… just what you’re thinking right at that moment… a pure blast of limitlessness”.

Accordingly, Cole’s touchstones for Quality Over Opinion include boundary-pushing composers such as Gustav Mahler and György Ligeti alongside jazz icons like Miles Davis, the Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah, Morten Lauridsen (distinguished professor of music and American Choral Master) and Super Mario Kart.

“There is no continuous thread of a story on this album, each song expresses its own moment in my life and time,” explains Cole. “I was inspired by joy, pain and the constant mission to pull something out of life around me.”

Cole’s insane musicianship is no secret – he’s been sharing performance videos on YouTube for a decade – growing a dedicated fanbase who appreciate both his craft and off-the-wall style. Drums, bass, keys — he has a monk-like attitude to practice and perfecting his art. Thundercat describes him as “one of Los Angeles's greatest musicians” and earlier this year invited him to play drums on his recent tour of Japan.

The pair have frequently written together including on the aptly titled “I Love Louis Cole” from Thundercat’s Grammy-winning album It Is What It Is, “Bus in the Streets,” and “Jameel’s Space Ride” (from Thundercat’s 2017 opus Drunk) and “Tunnels in the Air” for Cole’s 2018 album Time. Flying Lotus has also expressed admiration for Cole, calling him “super inspirational” during the writing of his 2019 album Flamagra.

Cole embarks on a set of tour dates in early 2024, a chance for fans to catch the GRAMMY-nominated musician live in concert. Tickets on sale to the general public starting November 17th.

Louis Cole (Trio)

March 2nd — Roseland Ballroom, PDX Jazz, Portland *

March 7th — Royale, Boston *

March 8th — Brooklyn Steel, NYC *

*Supported by Genevieve Artadi

Photo Credit: Richard Thompson III

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