The Jazz Education & Enrichment Program
BLUE NOTE MASTER CLASS
Saturday, February 14, 2004
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Trumpeter
NICHOLAS PAYTON
At the Blue Note Master Class, today's most seminal Jazz artists share their knowledge and expertise in a casual and intimate setting of a jazz club. A class consists of a lecture and demonstrations followed by a question and answer session. It is a rare opportunity for aspiring musicians and avid jazz listeners to hear the voice of artists whom they admire and ask what they always wanted to know. Attendants are encouraged to bring their instruments.
Nicholas Payton was born September 26, 1973, in New Orleans, Louisiana. His mother was an operatic singer and classical pianist. His father is a respected bassist and retired school teacher. Young Nicholas literally had thousands of records at his disposal from Scott Joplin, Louis Armstrong and King Oliver to Earth Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder and Run-DMC. Over the years, he has been influenced by them all. Nicholas also benefited from musicians coming to the house for rehearsals which his father allowed him to watch. He began gigging at eight years-old with his dad, eventually playing with the All-Star Brass Band, a traditional jazz youth group that played across the United States and abroad. His trumpet heroes are Wendell Brunious, Leroy Jones, Clyde Kerr, Jr. and Theodore Riley.
Payton later enrolled at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, then studied with Ellis Marsalis at the University of New Orleans. He went on to perform and record with some of the most respected giants of jazz, including Joe Henderson, Clark Terry, Jimmy Smith and Elvin Jones, who appointed him musical director of his renowned Jazz Machine at the age of nineteen.
Nicholas Payton launched his recording career as a leader in 1995 with FROM THIS MOMENT. The follow-up, 1996's GUMBO NOVEAU, was the maiden voyage for a quintet (featuring Tim Warfield on sax, Anthony Wonsey on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass and Adonis Rose on drums) he led for an astounding six years. In `96, Nicholas also portrayed legendary trumpeter Oran “Hot Lips" Page in director Robert Altman's film Kansas City, which spawned two soundtracks.
1997 found esteemed jazz trumpeter Doc Cheatham lovingly passing the torch to Payton in an album of sublime collaborations, titled DOC CHEATHAM & NICHOLAS PAYTON. A 24-year-old Payton earned a Grammy in the Best Solo Jazz Performance category for “Stardust" on that recording. Cheatham was among several mentors from generations past to whom Payton dedicated his next album, 1998's PAYTON'S PLACE, which marked the beginnings of his expanding compositional palette.
He has been a participant in a series of European concerts called “The Trumpet Summit," that find him playing among peers like Jon Faddis, Wynton Marsalis and Roy Hargrove. This year he will also be spending a portion of his schedule as part of drummer Roy Haynes' Birds Of A Feather quintet (with Kenny Garrett, and Dave Kikowski). In 2001, he recorded a centennial tribute to Louis Armstrong for big band. Titled DEAR LOUIS, that 2001 release found Payton arranging and performing 12 pieces of music closely associated with the master, plus composing the breathtaking title track. He's also added singing to his resume on that recording with the comical “I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You" and “I'll Never Be The Same" as a bittersweet bossa.
His most recent recording is SONIC TRANCE, Payton's seventh album and first for Warner Bros. Records. It features Payton along with two members from his previous quintet: Tim Warfield on tenor and soprano saxophones, and Adonis Rose on drums. Payton then recruited Kevin Hays on electric keyboards and piano, Vicente Archer on upright bass, Danny Sadownick on percussion and Karriem Riggins on sampler and synthesizer.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
