The first time I heard the music of Louis Cole, I remember pausing for the slightest instant, wondering about this brave and slightly awkward musician, and moving right along. However, about a year later I came across it for the second time, and went into a month long fit of despair and obsession, unable to stop listening to his music for even a single day. I am seeing more and more how it is not only impossible for me to control what music is going to grab me next, but also impossible to predict when and for how long.

My growing familiarity with this young artist’s personal story and musical background produced some logical explanation for my spontaneous fixation with his music: rooted in Jazz, Brian Wilson and James Brown, and with a healthy dose of 20th century classical music, it seems that we share many common influences. Also, on his latest album, Time, Cole hosts long-time friend and collaborator Stephen Bruner (AKA Thundercat) and Jazz piano master Brad Mehldau, connecting some well-established names and musical worlds while solidifying his place on the post-Jazz scene.

What I love about Time and it’s opening track, “Weird Part Of The Night”, is that there are many layers to it, but it’s also fun and groovy right off the bat. Check out this equally funny/multilayered music video for the track:

Cole doesn’t seem to favor this song for his live show repertoire, and I can see why: it sounds simple enough but is actually quite complex, rich with lots of material and intricate parts. In this transcription I adapted a few of the main parts for a live solo demonstration - I hope this will be enough to get you to dig deeper and learn some cool compositional tricks from this song and from the rest of the album. Please let me know if you have any comments, questions or suggestions - I would love to get into more music from Cole’s circle and beyond.