Search - Nicholas Payton :: Dear Louis

I can see Louis Armstrong smiling!

mark f turner | usa | 04/25/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Louis Armstrong is one of our greatest jazz Patriarchs whose impact has had such a tremendous effect on jazz music today. How do you pay just tribute to the king? Louis would be proud of Nicholas Payton's stellar effort. What makes this recording special is the fact that the essence of Armstrong is maintained but it is executed with Payton's unique vision. In this setting we find Payton in new territory to most listeners. We know that he's one of todays most accomplished trumpeters. His last few recordings with his working band have been fantastic. Now we get to hear Nick in the context of a big band. He also showcases his vocal skills on a few cuts. He can sing? Yes he can. He's no Satchmo, but he brings an authenticity to the cuts that he's chosen. The other vocalists Dr. John and Dianne Reeves are superb. Everything works together with Payton's arrangements. All the musicians are excellent. The big band setting is outstanding. Horn arrangements, percussion, come together to show the many sides of the great Armstrong. And it's all done in the fresh voice of Nicholas Payton; a modern jazz trumpeter. I didn't know Hello Dolly could be so smooth and funky. Check it out for yourself. markT."

Sympathy for Talent

melodiouspunk | Fullerton, California United States | 06/27/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Alright. A few people who have listened to this have hated it. I'm going to go in the opposite direction. As far as a tribute album, it's not. I really don't think there's an argument there...Unless the point is that Louis wrote timeless tunes that transcend all styles and periods. But we all know that. To me, this is just some good jazz music, heavy on the bop. But more Big Band Dizzy bop than intellectual Parker bop. But on top of everything else, the melody, and the arraingments, are fine work. Commendable for sure. True, Nick Payton probably shouldn't try the singing thing for a while, but it doesn't overshadow the artistry here. One thing that Payton really does do well is unforced cool. Important for good jazz. Read up on some Machiavelli to understand that. But it doesn't mean anything in the end. The music is there, and that's it. Don't hate the man for being musical."

Payton takes Armstrong tunes into the 21st century -- WOOT!

M. R. Traska | Chicago, IL | 05/01/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a fine trumpet outing this is! Native New Orleans son Nicholas Payton plays classic songs associated with that other native son, Louis Armstrong, and he does them with proficiency, a modern spin, and a cool sensibility. Considering that Armstrong himself played with a variety of musicians, including Oscar Peterson (no trad-jazz player *he*) and no less than that artiste supreme, Duke Ellington (give a listen to The Great Summit: The Master Tapes), I seriously doubt that Louis would have any problems with Payton's take on these tunes. In fact, I rather expect Louis would be proud: he had a big blues streak that worked its way down toward the cooler, near-bop side of jazz now and then (if you don't think so, then you'd better listen to him and Peterson doing Blues In The Night on Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson, on Verve; in fact, most of that album is far from trad-jazz).



The folks here who are upset that these standards aren't played by Payton as traditional jazz are clueless: jazz musicians ARE NOT OBLIGATED to forever play them as traditional jazz. It's been a century since King Oliver and Kid Ory began playing what's now considered traditional jazz; how much longer are those tunes supposed to stay petrified in a single genre? Answer: they were ***never*** supposed to be played in a fixed format or idiom: improvisation and variation isn't just the backbone of jazz, it's the entire point!! Miss that, and you completely misunderstand jazz's reason for being.



Back to Payton: Potato Head Blues and Tight Like This are most clearly 1950s Miles-ish cool-school bop and sound fresh. I like the way Payton plays with time signatures and strange chords, as in Hello, Dolly (a tune that I otherwise can't stand, despite Armstrong's listener-friendly version). You Rascal You gets a bluesy big-band-style take that sounds like it could have been done by the funky, swinging Gene Harris. Dianne Reeves does the sweet vocal on a Chick-Corea-Return-To-Forever-influenced On The Sunny Side Of The Street. Blues In The Night hearkens back to that Armstrong-Peterson arrangement and to New Orleans R&B with a fine vocal by Dr. John, whereas The Peanut Vendor shows influences of Dizzy, Arturo Sandoval, Tito Puente, and the Caribbean Jazz Project. And yes, Mack The Knife *is* Louis filtered through Miles Davis, but that's a good thing and it swings, improving an otherwise severely hackneyed tune that I never did like unless Ella was scatting through it. Tiger Rag is a second-line brass romp in Dirty Dozen style (how come you trad-jazz critics didn't catch that? What could be more traditional than a New Orleans second line??), whereas I'll Never Be The Same is rendered as a samba worthy of Stan Getz and friends. And West End Blues gets my favorite treatment, morphing into a swinging, eight-count Lindy borrowed from big band and just made for dancing. What is there not to like?? Absolutely nothing!!! Stretch your ears and get this: if you really love jazz as a whole and not just its early roots, this will grow on you."