Nicholas Payton Trio
Nicholas Payton (1973) – outstanding trumpeter, pianist, vocalist, composer, band leader, Grammy Award winner.
He grew up in New Orleans in a family deeply rooted in the local musical tradition. His father, Walter Payton, was an acclaimed bassist and sappaphonist, and his mother, Maria Payton, was a pianist and vocalist. He began learning to play the trumpet in early childhood. At the age of nine, he performed with his father in the Young Tuxedo Brass Band; shortly thereafter, he joined James Andrews’ All-Star Brass Band. His professional debut is considered to be performances with guitarist Danny Barker at The Famous Door club on Bourbon Street.
He perfected his trumpet playing at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, then began studying at the University of New Orleans, where he was educated, among m.in, under the direction of Ellis Marsalis. As a teenager, he toured with Clark Terry, Marcus Roberts and Elvin Jones, with whom he went on a two-year tour and recorded three albums. His stage experience, combined with a solid education, quickly earned him a reputation as one of the most promising trumpeters of his generation.
In 1994, he made his debut with the album From This Moment. In 1997, he won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo for his performance of Stardust on the album Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton; Cheatham, who was 91 years old at the time, considered Payton to be the greatest New Orleans-style trumpeter since Louis Armstrong.
After 2000, he gradually expanded his activities as a composer, arranger and producer. From 2003 to 2004, he co-founded the SFJAZZ Collective, one of the most important repertoire ensembles of contemporary jazz, working there with Joshua Redman, Miguel Zenón, Brian Blade and Erik Harland. In 2013, he founded the independent label Paytone Records, which allowed him to pursue projects outside of the commercial circuit. Under its banner, he has recorded his own albums, m.in. Quarantined With Nick (2020), Afro-Caribbean Mixtape (2017), Maestro Rhythm King (2020), Notes From the Zen Gangster (2025), and has also invited various artists to collaborate.
Payton’s early albums (From This Moment On, Gumbo Nouveau) were in the trend of post-bop and modern mainstream, with clear references to the New Orleans tradition. In the late 90s, his musical language began to evolve towards electric sounds, funk, soul, afrobeat and fusion. The culmination of this stage was the album Sonic Trance (2003), inspired by the psychedelic atmosphere of Davis’ recordings from the first half of the 70s. From that moment on, Payton’s work developed in two directions. On the one hand, he creates music using electronics, loops, samples and extensive studio production (Numbers, Letters, Quarantined With Nick), on the other hand, he remains active in the field of acoustic jazz straightahead, recording albums with outstanding musicians. m.in. Ron Carter and George Coleman (Relaxin’ With Nick, Smoke Sessions) or Buster Williams and Lenny White (The Couch Sessions).
Payton’s latest productions show different strategies for integrating different styles and means of expression. Drip (2023), recorded with m.in. Robert Glasper, features funk-soul versions of his earlier songs, while Triune (2025) is an intimate, sophisticated project co-created with Esperanza Spalding and drummer Karriem Riggins. Payton, who plays extensive parts on the piano, impresses with the craftsmanship of a seasoned pianist, able to establish multi-level interactions with double bass, vocals and drums; when he reaches for the trumpet, Fender or clavinet, his music takes on a soulful energy. Notes From the Zen Gangster (2025) is largely Payton’s solo project based on his own songs, in which lines of bass, drums, and synthesizers create trance-like structures for trumpet improvisation. The music here moves away from narrative forms of jazz, moving towards electro-ambient and minimalism.
Since 2011 Payton publishes texts on his blog calling for a re-reflection on the history, identity and social role of music. In his famous essay On Why Jazz Isn’t Cool Anymore , he challenged the concept of “jazz” as simplistic, anachronistic, and marginalizing the contribution of African Americans to the genre’s development, proposing the term Black American Music (BAM) instead. His statements, often controversial, evoke a lively resonance in the musical community.