Nicholas Payton [Payton's Place]
This was the disc that started my Blog off, the very first entry [1st January 2010], but i also played it just over a year ago [23rd February 2011], it's getting nice exposure, and each time i play it i marvel at the invention of Payton, and his ability to create something funky and upbeat, the small combo [mainly quintets] is used very effectively, no one seems to play background accompaniment, each musician muscles in on the action, looking at the track listing, Payton also has a propensity to write for the 5-6 minute market, of the 12 tracks, two thirds fall into this bracket, is there a production line formula developing in his works.
Nicholas Payton is American, born in 1973, he is now 38, and he recorded this disc in 1997 and 1998, one of the great things about this disc is the front booklet cover and back inlay, they are truly superb [photography by Barron Claiborne], aided by a shocking bright red background, colours 'seem' to clash, notice the red, yellow, green, blue on the back inlay, almost the whole rainbow of colours!, and doesn't yellow on the back make the track listing stand out that much more?, plus it's deliciously off kilter, a truly superb album, out of 76 Jazz discs i own, this is my fourth favourite, a stunner of an album.
Right from the word go, as soon as the album opens [i always play a disc like this on random, however the first track i listened to was the first track on the album] it has this phenomenally delicious funky drum and cymbal beat, and here's one of the major strengths of the album, the Drummer [Adonis Rose], and the way he's recorded, he doesn't just play drums, but plays a load of different drums!, and his sounds are caught in the mix in a stunning way, you can hear the different sized toms clearly and sharply, it's dynamite to get the drums right in the recording, there were three tracks which were just terrific to hear, tracks 1, 5 & 9, and here's a synopsis of each,
1 Zigaboogaloo [YouTube video starts after 23 seconds] - Like i said what an opening, a drum intro to just get so excited about [0:00-0:06], and then the Pianist lays down a funky groove with it [0:06-0:16], this is the canvas which the horns paint on, and their theme is also just a funky and bubbly tune [0:17-1:31], so infectious, Payton's solo right afterwards is high spirit, nicely sharp and screaming, and growling at times too [1:30-2:49], Saxophonist Tim Warfield's solo by comparison is quite muted and mellow and low down, i like the way both horns fill in over the second half of the Pianists solo [4:39-5:14], the return of a theme is always a special moment [5:14+], and the ending finishes on a nice loud horn blast! [5:51], and finally what a great name for a track!.
5 Concentric Circles - Again what a title!, and also again, what a wonderful drum solo intro [0:00-0:18], where the treble tom sounds so atmospheric, nice sharp and snappy!, and yet again there's a funkiness to it, the sax solo [Tim Warfield] is nicely jagged and broken, and filled out bubbly by the piano [1:00-2:25], and so is the trumpet solo also [2:26-4:03] Anthony Wonsey [piano] stamps out chords all over the place, very effective, the drummer [Adonis Rose] gets an astonishing solo in [5:25-6:18], timed to perfection, and right at the end the Bassist gets a lovely resonant strike in [7:02].
9 Paraphernalia - This is a Wayne Shorter tune, used originally in the Miles Davis Band, and what a great creation it is, it starts off with the most inventive Bassist [Reuben Rogers] intro [0:00-0:23], full of lovely reverberation, the piece rocks back and forth between the slow rhythm section, and the fast horn section, Tim Warfied [saxophone] has a nice solo [1:30-4:28], which slowly develops in intensity, speed, and volume, Nicholas Payton does the same in his solo [4:29-7:34], lazy and slow at first, and i like the way it's just speeds up, the rhythm section really go mental [6:25+], the Bassist especially, and everyone joins in, a track of great variety, and well held together.
1 Zigaboogaloo [YouTube video starts after 23 seconds] - Like i said what an opening, a drum intro to just get so excited about [0:00-0:06], and then the Pianist lays down a funky groove with it [0:06-0:16], this is the canvas which the horns paint on, and their theme is also just a funky and bubbly tune [0:17-1:31], so infectious, Payton's solo right afterwards is high spirit, nicely sharp and screaming, and growling at times too [1:30-2:49], Saxophonist Tim Warfield's solo by comparison is quite muted and mellow and low down, i like the way both horns fill in over the second half of the Pianists solo [4:39-5:14], the return of a theme is always a special moment [5:14+], and the ending finishes on a nice loud horn blast! [5:51], and finally what a great name for a track!.
5 Concentric Circles - Again what a title!, and also again, what a wonderful drum solo intro [0:00-0:18], where the treble tom sounds so atmospheric, nice sharp and snappy!, and yet again there's a funkiness to it, the sax solo [Tim Warfield] is nicely jagged and broken, and filled out bubbly by the piano [1:00-2:25], and so is the trumpet solo also [2:26-4:03] Anthony Wonsey [piano] stamps out chords all over the place, very effective, the drummer [Adonis Rose] gets an astonishing solo in [5:25-6:18], timed to perfection, and right at the end the Bassist gets a lovely resonant strike in [7:02].
9 Paraphernalia - This is a Wayne Shorter tune, used originally in the Miles Davis Band, and what a great creation it is, it starts off with the most inventive Bassist [Reuben Rogers] intro [0:00-0:23], full of lovely reverberation, the piece rocks back and forth between the slow rhythm section, and the fast horn section, Tim Warfied [saxophone] has a nice solo [1:30-4:28], which slowly develops in intensity, speed, and volume, Nicholas Payton does the same in his solo [4:29-7:34], lazy and slow at first, and i like the way it's just speeds up, the rhythm section really go mental [6:25+], the Bassist especially, and everyone joins in, a track of great variety, and well held together.
