Resurgence is a tune that was made when I stripped away the noise that prevented me from creating. My hope is that this story and the music moves you to do the same when those moments arise.

Jazz has been an integral, foundational part of the music that I create. Growing up, that's all that would be played around the house: jazz and gospel. Albeit, my pops would play a lot of "smooth" jazz in the house.

As I got older, I began to discover the earlier jazz legends like Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, Bobby Hutcherson, Coltrane, Bill Evans, Miles, and so many more.

I remember sitting in my studio one morning in January 2022 hitting a wall with creating music. I had no ideas and my motivation was waning.

fter my morning journaling & prayer, I opened Ableton, pressed record, and played whatever came out at the moment on the piano. It was liberating, to say the least.

I didn’t focus on structure.

I let go of tempo.

I didn’t worry about “sounding good”.

I just wanted to play.

I removed any expectations of creating something that I thought would be "good". Whenever I obsess about how "good" something sounds or is perceived in comparison to the previous thing I've heard or seen, it’s no longer fun. The creativity and joy is gone.

I began to recenter myself around the earlier days of when I first started making beats in middle school and staying up all night just figuring stuff out and creating things.

Resurgence is me finding my way back to my music by stripping away everything and recentering myself around my foundation; the joy of creating music.

My hope is that if/when those moments hit you, let go of that expectation to “sound good”, and make what’s true to you.

Lastly, thank you to my brother Shaughn Cooper for capturing this moment for the artwork.