He was meant to be the saviour. And then... nothing. Or at least, very little… In 2002, at the release of The Headphone Masterpiece, aficionados of real soul music saw in Cody Chesnutt some kind of messiah. Someone who recalls the rules of the game without falling into the saccharine inanity of today's mainstream R'n'B. Especially given that the Atlantan has been given the nod by the Roots, who have joined him to revisit his single The Seed. But as so often, life proved farcical and/or confounding, and Chesnutt dropped off the radar… Ten years later, he finally brought out Landing On A Hundred, a new and marvellous piece of soul for the purist. Produced by Patrice, this album, much more luxuriant than his first, which he put together entirely on his own, benefited from millimetrically-precise arrangements, strings, horns, and all the hardware needed for a great record that takes a look at the greats of old (Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, Bobby Womack…), but without ever falling into nostalgia. In spring 2017, Chesnutt knocked out My Love Divine Degree, further proof of his five-star soul-man talent. Seasoned songwriter and able singer, he alternates between the militant and the poignant. His form of conscious soul, however, never falls into Manichaeism or simplistic preaching. No, Cody Chesnutt is easily of the calibre of those who inspired him. © MD/Qobuz