[Dixielandjazz] Nicholas Peyton

[Stephen G Barbone]

Nicholas Peyton grew up musically as a New Orleans Jazz and/or  
Dixieland musician. If in NYC this weekend, it might be worth a trip  
to see him, though he has evolved to more current jazz offerings.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.barbonestreet.com
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

Fierce Swing, Deep Grooves and Even a Little Singing
NY TIMES - By Nate Chinen - June 6, 2008

Growing up in a jazz family in New Orleans, the trumpeter Nicholas  
Payton absorbed a host of lessons about melody, rhythm and the  
implicit arrangement between an artist and his audience. And over the  
last decade or so he has weighed those lessons against the modernist  
imperative of open-ended abstraction. Now, in his mid-30s, Mr. Payton  
still seems to be seeking an arable middle ground, the zone where post- 
bop evasiveness mingles with soulful reassurance.

He had some success striking that balance on Wednesday night at the  
Jazz Standard, leading a responsive quintet. The first set featured a  
roughly equal proportion of forward-tilt swing and in-the-pocket  
groove, along with enough harmonic feints to keep all parties on their  
toes. It was bookended with two brief vocal turns by Mr. Payton, which  
he took with feeling, though he’s demonstrably not a trained singer.

He constructed the set largely with material from his new release,  
“Into the Blue” (Nonesuch). Recorded last year at Piety Street Studios  
in New Orleans, the album projects a rewardingly informal vibe. Its  
main point is the easy chemistry between Mr. Payton and his band:  
Kevin Hays on acoustic and electric piano, Vicente Archer on bass,  
Daniel Sadownick on percussion and Marcus Gilmore on drums.

The same crew is on board this week, with the exception of Mr. Hays.  
Filling his place is the eminently capable Robert Glasper, who has an  
established connection with Mr. Archer (they make up two-thirds of Mr.  
Glasper’s working trio). Some of the set’s most thrilling moments were  
autonomous rhythm-section excursions spearheaded by Mr. Glasper; he’s  
an expert at building suspense out of R&B vamps and modal incantations.

Mr. Payton has proved to be a high-wire soloist on many occasions, but  
here he seemed more focused on preserving an air of mystery. He soloed  
mainly in his warm and dark-hued middle register, darting upward only  
to deliver the occasional exclamatory phrase. He dabbled comfortably  
in the blues on “Drucilla,” composed by his father, the bassistWalter  
Payton. And his reading of “Chinatown,” the Jerry Goldsmith movie  
theme, was powerfully ruminative and poetically terse.

As a bandleader Mr. Payton was generous and fair: each musician had  
the chance to fashion an unaccompanied introduction to a tune. That  
included Mr. Sadownick, whose solo clinic on conga drumming preceded  
the strongest original of the set, a groove tune called “Triptych.”  
Its head-bobbing ostinato elicited solid if unsurprising work from Mr.  
Payton and Mr. Glasper. Then the gears shifted; suddenly the band was  
swinging throughHenry Mancini’s “Days of Wine and Roses” with purpose  
and drive.

At that point, for the only sustained stretch in the set, Mr. Payton’s  
fiercer instincts kicked in. He played some upward-tripping runs,  
interpolated a blues lick from another key, conjugated one phrase and  
insistently worried another. He sounded energized and challenged, and  
the band swirled hard around him.

The Nicholas Payton Quintet performs through Sunday at the Jazz  
Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan; (212) 576-2232,  
jazzstandard.net.




Steve Barbone

www.barbonestreet.com
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband