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Nicholas Payton at Yoshi's--May 25
Last Sunday, I went to see Nicholas Payton at Yoshi’s. It was the 2 PM family set. Families attend this set with kids of all ages from babes in arms to teenagers. A lot of folks without kids in tow make up maybe half the audience. I’ve taken my young cousins to this set and they have enjoyed it tremendously. The only caveat is that you never know how much music you will hear and how much focus the set will have on the kids to give them a bit of education about jazz. I enjoy these sessions because I always learn something and it is a rare and special opportunity to see artists share what they know about their art.
Payton gave a wonderful set that was light on music and heavier on education. His current band, Sonic Trance, is made up of Adonis Rose on drums, Vicente Archer on bass, Tim Warfield on saxophone, Danny Sadownick on percussion and Scott Kinsey on keyboards.
The band started out with a tune called “Fela” that was high energy and barreling along like a runaway train. This was what I had been waiting to hear since I caught a bit of Payton at last fall’s SF Jazz opening night. The sound had an echo of the Weather Report without sounding derivative and incorporated more Latin flavor. Picture a Middle Eastern bazaar on the outskirts of Mexico City. Payton is much more the brash player than the trumpet player I first saw with Ray Brown nearly two years ago. My impression of him then with Brown and on Payton’s CD “Nick at Night” was interesting but mainstream. Today, he has clearly moved into a new neighborhood. I can’t judge his technical ability but his sound is out, in, around and difficult to label. Adonis Rose stood out of for me as a powerful drummer who manages to maintain a delicate touch filling the room with sound and rhythm without getting loud.
The next song was from Kinsey’s CD and was a big change in style and mood and less compelling for me. After this song, Payton broke from the music and began to quiz the kids about what they knew about the blues. He went through the standard 12-bar blues. He played Duke Elllington’s C-Jam Blues at each step of the demonstration and invited the audience to count out the bars. Payton described the various instruments using an automobile analogy calling the drums the motor and the bass the wheels, and the keyboard the trim. Each musician gave a demonstration of what he did.
Payton invited the kids to define a riff, improvisation, a break, and call and response. Payton brought a few youngsters up on stage to improvise during a demonstration of the 12-bar blues. He ended the discussion with questions and answers where he revealed that he teaches music back in Louisiana.
Payton closed the set with a rousing version of the “Flintstones.” He came back for an encore and played another song in the style of his opening number. It was a fun and informative set but I left feeling like a thirsty person who got the last lonely swallow of water--a slightly less dry throat but the thirst still there. I’ll have to wait until next time to hear a full set of Payton’s new musical style. By then, he may be on to something different. Guess I’ll just have to buy the new CD, which is due out in August.
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