Jessie Cox

Described by VAN magazine as “a multifaceted Black Swiss composer, performer, and scholar,” Jessie Cox makes music about the universe and our future in it. Through avant-garde classical, experimental jazz, and sound art, he has devised his own strand of musical science fiction, one that asks where we go next. He is influenced by a vast array of artists who have used their music to imagine futures, and takes Afrofuturism as a core inspiration, asking questions about existence, and the ways we make spaces habitable. Known for its disquieting tone and unexpected structural changes, his music steps into the unknown, and has been referred to by the New Yorker as an example of “dynamic pointillism,” a nebulous and ever-expanding sound world that includes “breathy instrumental noises, mournfully wailing glissandi, and climactic stampedes of frantic figuration.”

A dedicated collaborator, Cox has worked as a composer and drummer with ensembles and musicians such as the Sun Ra Arkestra, LA Phil, Ensemble Modern, and the JACK Quartet; at festivals such as the Lucerne Festival, MaerzMusik, and Opera Omaha. For his work as a composer, he has been recognized with a Fromm Music Foundation commission, and his commissions have been funded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, Pro Helvetia, New Music USA, and others.

During his time at Berklee, Cox valued its international community and the possibility to work across numerous musical genres. The fostering of an international community greatly benefited Cox because of its broad career opportunities and ability to open one's ears to new sounds and ways of making a community in this world beyond existing borders of nations or musical genres. The faculty always encouraged experimentation and, as a student, Cox greatly benefited from the resources available with regards to studios, rehearsal spaces, and the diversity of knowledge and experiences of faculty and students.

Currently completing his doctorate at Columbia University, Cox is also an accomplished scholar writing about music and the world. He has published in and co-translated the book Composing While Black, published as a bilingual edition in German and English by Wolke Verlag in 2023. Further texts appear in liquid blackness, Critical Studies in Improvisation, Positionen—Texte zur Aktuellen Musik, Sound American, American Music Review, and others.