Nicholas Payton

Last updated

Nicholas Payton
NicholasPayton5deMayo07Playing.jpg
Payton playing at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, May 5, 2007
Background information
Born (1973-09-26) September 26, 1973 (age 50)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Genres Jazz, jazz fusion
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Trumpet, electric piano
Years active1990–present
Labels Verve, Warner Bros., Blue Note/EMI, Nonesuch
Website Official website

Nicholas Payton (born September 26, 1973) is an American trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist. A Grammy Award winner, he is from New Orleans, Louisiana. [1] [2] He is also a prolific and provocative writer who comments on a multitude of subjects, including music, race, politics, and life in America.

Contents

Biography

The son of bassist and sousaphonist Walter Payton, he began playing the trumpet at the age of four and by age nine was sitting in with the Young Tuxedo Brass Band alongside his father. He began his professional career at ten years old as a member of James Andrews' All-Star Brass and was given his first steady gig by guitarist Danny Barker at The Famous Door on Bourbon Street. He enrolled at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and then at the University of New Orleans.

After touring with Marcus Roberts and Elvin Jones in the early 1990s, Payton signed a contract with Verve Records; his first album, From This Moment, appeared in 1995. In 1996 he performed on the soundtrack of the movie Kansas City , and in 1997 received a Grammy Award (Best Instrumental Solo) for his playing on the album Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton.

After seven albums on Verve, Payton signed with Warner Bros. Records, releasing Sonic Trance, his first album on the new label, in 2003. Besides his recordings under his own name, other significant collaborations include Trey Anastasio, Ray Brown, Ray Charles, Daniel Lanois, Dr. John, Stanley Jordan, Herbie Hancock, Roy Haynes, Zigaboo Modeliste, Marcus Roberts, Jill Scott, Clark Terry, Allen Toussaint, Nancy Wilson, Dr. Michael White, and Joe Henderson.

In 2004, he became a founding member of the SFJAZZ Collective. In 2008, he joined The Blue Note 7, a septet formed in honor of the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records. In 2011, he formed a 21-piece big band ensemble called the Television Studio Orchestra. In 2011, he also recorded and released Bitches, a love narrative on which he played every instrument, sang, and wrote all of the music. In 2012 the Czech National Symphony Orchestra commissioned and debuted his first full orchestral work, The Black American Symphony. And in 2013, he formed his own record label, BMF Records, and the same year released two albums, #BAM Live at Bohemian Caverns, where he plays both trumpet and Fender Rhodes, often at once, and Sketches of Spain, which he recorded with the Basel Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland.

Payton's writings are provocative. One of his pieces, "On Why Jazz isn't Cool Anymore" [3] describes the effects of cultural colonization on music. The article quickly earned his website 150,000 page views and sparked international press attention and debate. [4]

Discography

As leader/co-leader

As group

New Orleans Collective
With Wessell Anderson, Christopher Thomas, Peter Martin and Brian Blade

SFJAZZ Collective (2004-06)

The Blue Note 7 (2008-09)

As sideman/guest

With Eric Alexander

With Joanne Brackeen

With Bill Charlap

With Common

With The Headhunters

With Joe Henderson

With Doc Houlind

With Dr. John

With Elvin Jones

With Yu Sakai  [ ja ]

With Jimmy Smith

With Allen Toussaint

With Joshua Redman

Awards and nominations

YearResultAwardCategoryWork
1997Won Grammy Award Best Jazz Instrumental Solo [5] "Stardust"
in Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton
1997NominatedGrammy Award Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group [5] Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton
with Doc Cheatham
2001Nominated Grammy Award Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album [5] Dear Louis
2003Nominated Grammy Award Best Contemporary Jazz Album [5] Sonic Trance
2023Won Grammy Award Best Jazz Instrumental Album New Standards Vol. 1
with Terri Lyne Carrington, Kris Davis, Linda May Han Oh, and Matthew Stevens

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Anderson (musician)</span> American jazz trombonist

Ray Anderson is an American jazz trombonist. Trained by the Chicago Symphony trombonists, he is regarded as someone who pushes the limits of the instrument, including performing on alto trombone and slide trumpet. He is a colleague of trombonist George E. Lewis. Anderson also plays sousaphone and sings. He was frequently chosen in DownBeat magazine's Critics Poll as best trombonist throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Blade</span> American jazz drummer

Brian Blade is an American jazz drummer, composer, and session musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby Hutcherson</span> American jazz vibraphone and marimba player

Robert Hutcherson was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. "Little B's Poem", from the 1966 Blue Note album Components, is one of his best-known compositions. Hutcherson influenced younger vibraphonists including Steve Nelson, Joe Locke, and Stefon Harris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Redman</span> American jazz saxophonist and composer (born 1969)

Joshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the son of jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman (1931–2006).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Potter (jazz saxophonist)</span> American jazz musician and composer

Chris Potter is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doc Cheatham</span> American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader

Adolphus Anthony Cheatham, better known as Doc Cheatham, was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. He is also the grandfather of musician Theo Croker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Eubanks</span> American jazz trombonist

Robin Eubanks is an American jazz and jazz fusion slide trombonist, the brother of guitarist Kevin Eubanks and trumpeter Duane Eubanks. His uncles are jazz pianist Ray Bryant and bassist Tommy Bryant. His mother, Vera Eubanks, was famed pianist Kenny Barron's first piano teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Coleman</span> American jazz saxophonist

George Edward Coleman is an American jazz saxophonist known for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. In 2015, he was named an NEA Jazz Master.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cat Anderson</span> American jazz trumpeter

William Alonzo "Cat" Anderson was an American jazz trumpeter known for his long period as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra and for his wide range, especially his ability to play in the altissimo register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lonnie Plaxico</span> American jazz double bassist

Lonnie Plaxico is an American jazz double bassist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Sánchez (musician)</span> Puerto Rican jazz saxophonist

David Sánchez is a Grammy-winning jazz tenor saxophonist from Puerto Rico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renee Rosnes</span> Canadian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger

Irene Louise Rosnes, known professionally as Renee Rosnes, is a Canadian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SFJAZZ Collective</span> Musical artist

The SFJAZZ Collective is an American jazz ensemble comprising nine performer/composers, launched in 2004 by SFJAZZ, a West Coast non-profit jazz institution and the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stefon Harris</span> American jazz musician

Stefon DeLeon Harris is an American jazz vibraphonist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Bernstein (guitarist)</span> American jazz guitarist

Peter Andrew Bernstein is an American jazz guitarist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Wilson (jazz musician)</span> American jazz multi-instrumentalist (born 1961)

Steve Wilson is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, who is best known in the musical community as a flutist and an alto and soprano saxophonist. He also plays the clarinet and the piccolo. Wilson performs on many different instruments and has performed and recorded on over twenty-five albums. His interests include folk, jazz, classical, world music, and experimental music. Wilson is currently on the faculty of New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. He was elected as an American Champion by the National Flute Association. Wilson has maintained a busy career working as a session musician, and has contributed to many musicians of note both in the recording studios, but as a sideman on tours. Over the years he has participated in engagements with several musical ensembles, as well as his own solo efforts.

Josh Roseman is an American jazz trombonist. His nickname is "Mr. Bone". He studied in Newton North High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Harland</span> American jazz drummer

Eric Harland is an American jazz drummer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avishai Cohen (trumpeter)</span> Israeli jazz musician and composer

Avishai Cohen is a New York City–based jazz musician and composer originally from Tel Aviv, Israel.

This is a timeline documenting events of jazz in the year 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 Skelly, Richard. Nicholas Payton at AllMusic . Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  2. "Nicholas Payton". Archived from the original on March 5, 2005.
  3. "On Why Jazz isn't Cool Anymore…". December 1, 2011. Archived from the original on December 1, 2011.
  4. "Someone Said Something Negative About Jazz As A Whole Again". NPR . December 3, 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Nicholas Payton". Recording Academy.