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Nicholas Payton

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.

Nicholas Payton

(1973-09-26) September 26, 1973
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.

Musician

Trumpet, electric piano

1990–present

Biography[edit]

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]

From This Moment (, 1995) – recorded in 1994

Verve

Gumbo Nouveau (Verve, 1996)

Fingerpainting: The Music of with Christian McBride, Mark Whitfield (Verve, 1997)

Herbie Hancock

Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton with (Verve, 1997) – Grammy winning track included[5]

Doc Cheatham

(Verve, 1998)

Payton's Place

Nick@Night (Verve, 1999)

Dear Louis (Verve, 2001) – recorded in 2000

Sonic Trance (, 2003)

Warner Bros.

(Kufala, 2004) with Sonic Trance

Live in New York 1.24.04

Mysterious Shorter with Bob Belden, , John Hart, Billy Drummond (Chesky, 2006)

Sam Yahel

Into the Blue (, 2008) – recorded in 2007

Nonesuch

Bitches (In+Out, 2011)

[1]

Live at 2012 (Munck Mix, 2012)

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

#BAM: Live at (BMF, >2013)

Bohemian Caverns

Sketches of Spain with (BMF, 2013)

Sinfonieorchester Basel

Numbers (Paytone, 2014)

Letters (Paytone, 2015) [2CD]

The Egyptian Second Line (Paytone, 2016)

Afro-Caribbean Mixtape (Paytone, 2017) [2CD] – recorded in 2016

Relaxin' with Nick (Smoke Sessions, 2019) [2CD] – recorded live at ""

Smoke

Quarantined with Nick (Paytone, 2020)

Maestro Rhythm King (Paytone, 2020) [limited edition album]

Smoke Sessions (Smoke Sessions, 2021)

The Couch Sessions (Smoke Sessions, 2022)

New Standards, Vol. 1 with , Kris Davis, Linda May Han Oh, Matthew Stevens (Candid, 2022)

Terri Lyne Carrington

Drip (Paytone, 2023) [limited edition album]

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Official website

The Complete Nicholas Payton: #BAM, Bird, Barack Obama, more

Biography from JazzTrumpetSolos.com

Interview with Nicholas Payton for jazzInternet.com

by Ted Panken, (Jazz.com)

"In Conversation with Nicholas Payton"

– slideshow by NPR

Nicholas Payton: Live At The Village Vanguard

DTM interview