Nicholas Payton @The Jazz Bakery
January 17, 2004


Much like the boy who cried wolf, a critic is occasionally confronted with a reality no one may believe. Having already exhausted superlatives, fancy words and elaborate figures of speech on lesser talent, the actual moment of truth may, through no fault of its own, lack the legitimacy it deserves. After much a do about nothing, it turns out that Nicholas Payton and Sonic Trance are the real deal. It's true. In front of a sell-out crowd at the Jazz Bakery on Saturday, January 17, the trumpeter and his band played selections from their current Warner Bros. album, the Grammy nominated, Sonic Trance. Though far more apparent live than on record, this music marks the arrival of a new thing in jazz. Complete with its own sense of swing and rules of improvisation, Sonic Trance creases jazz with funk, R&B, hip-hop, early fusion, and rock. While such genre amalgamations are not new, Payton's search and success in finding a common denominator, sets this mix apart. Further distancing itself from the rest, Payton's music borrows a page from the free jazz tome by doing away with adherences to the usual melody intro-solos-melody out progression of traditional jazz. As if to make this point clear, the group opened with a loosely strung set of three songs, "Seance," "Fela," and "Cannabis Leaf Rag." Where one tune began, or the other ended, seemed irrelevant compared to the captivating array of sounds Sonic Trance willingly exposed. Joining Nicholas Payton were Tim Warfield on tenor and soprano sax, Scott Kinsey (member of Tribal Tech) on keyboards, Vicente Archer on bass, Adonis Rose on drums, and Danny Sadownick on percussions. Throughout the night, the percussion work was a near magical experience to behold. Using every bell and whistle imaginable, Danny Sadownick's work stirred in delights and textures, otherwise lost without him. Truth be told, though, nobody enchanted more than the leader himself. Aside from his usual lush tone, Payton unveiled a new, exciting ability to growl and moan on the wah-wah pedal. For a player, who until recently, was classified as a traditionalist, the addition of such an effect seemed exotic. In context of this new music, though, it only reaffirmed Payton's new place. Check it out.


- George W. Harris