Only 22 at the time of this CD, Nicholas Payton had already quickly developed into a major trumpeter. Possessing a fat tone that is sometimes reminiscent of Freddie Hubbard, by the mid-'90s Payton had become New Orleans' latest significant contribution to jazz. On his second Verve release, Payton interprets and modernizes ten songs associated with his hometown and/or Louis Armstrong. Fortunately, Payton generally retains the flavor and joy of the original versions, even while he tra...   [ read more ]

CD $14.23

From listening to the amazing native vibes, joyful flute musings, and sweeping soundscapes of this popular new age artist over the last decade, there's no way you'd suspect he was born in England and makes his home in Southern California; he sounds totally steeped in the canyons and red rocks of the Southwest. And he's enjoyed taking his listeners for winding joyrides through the rugged landscape since Afternoon in Sedona was released in 1993. This is a wondrous retrospective of his six recordings, f...   [ read more ]

CD $16.13

Changing labels from Verve to Warner Bros. and dropping any connection to his neo-bop past, trumpeter Nicholas Payton has crafted a funk-jazz album that unabashedly resurrects iconic trumpeter Miles Davis' wah-wah-laden fusion experiments epitomized by his 1969 opus, Bitches Brew. More slavish to the period than trumpeter Wallace Roney's No Room for Argument, but no less hip-hop-influenced than trumpeter Roy Hargrove's Hard Groove, Sonic Trance is nonetheless...   [ read more ]

CD $13.26