To be realistic, most of the jazz world expected Nicholas Payton to follow a conservative stylistic route similar to fellow New Orleans trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. Folks perceived last year’s tribute album to Louis Armstrong, Dear Louis, and his 1997 collaboration with then 92-year-old trumpeter Doc Cheatham, simply titled Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton, as career signposts. Payton, like Marsalis, was also always stylishly clad while leading his buttoned-up ensemble. As in the days of traditional jazz and bebop, suits and ties remained the band uniform. While Payton didn’t feel the sting of critical barbs for such outings as those hurled at Marsalis, who as king of the hill is a constant target, few anticipated Payton’s gigantic leap from the straight-ahead jazz of his past to the electronic, funkified, groove-oriented and atmospheric world of his new Warner Brothers release, Sonic Trance.
“Coming out of such a heavily arranged thing [as Dear Louis], I just felt like I needed a change,” says Payton. “The direction I felt I almost had to go was complete freedom. The biggest thing for me, why felt I wanted to break out of what I was doing is that, for me now, there is a certain sense of urgency to create jazz music that has relevancy in the times in which I live.”
In New Orleans there were some red flags indicating Payton’s new course as early as 1997 when he plugged in to head a group called Time Machine. Payton considers the ensemble, which only performed locally, to have been a workshop of sorts. He utilized it as an experimental vehicle for freshly penned compositions and as a setting for honing his chops on the electronic effects on his trumpet that predominate the music on Sonic Trance.
Another change was observed at the 2002 Jazz & Heritage Festival where Payton presented his short-lived Soul Patrol rather than his regular quintet. New Orleans audiences were also the first to get a sneak preview of Sonic Trance at performances by the band heard on the disc at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts in the fall of 2002, the 2003 Jazz Fest and at this spring’s evening concert in Lafayette Square.
Gone are Payton’s finely tailored suits replaced by mod outfits with a ’70s flair and pimp-like hats. Wah-wah and delay pedals, a pitch shifter, ring and synth modulators accessorize his simple trumpet and microphone set-up of the past. Only Payton’s longtime drummer, New Orleanian Adonis Rose, and saxophonist Tim Warfield remain from his quintet. Adding new colors are keyboardist Kevin Hays, bassist Vincente Archer and percussionist Daniel Sadownick with Karriem Riggens handling synthesizer and sampler on the album.
Some will certainly consider the electronic groove-based and even hip-hop influenced music of Sonic Trance to be a departure by Payton from his past. Those in local audiences who’ve experienced the band live have thus far either jumped for joy at the innovation or rued over what they consider Payton’s abandonment of jazz.
Payton views the band and its music as simply a continuum. He purposely employs the more earthly tones of an acoustic bass and congas alongside the electrified instruments in order to acknowledge the music’s roots while looking to the future.
On the wittily titled crowd-pleaser, “Cannabis Leaf Rag,” the theme of which is very reminiscent of the tune “The Entertainer,” the trumpeter marries drum machine induced hip-hop with ragtime rhythms, a meeting he sees as demonstrating their close relationship and feel. When whistles and cowbells are added to the mix, they bring traditional jazz fare to mind. And despite his use of some nine different electronic effects, he makes sure not to completely forsake the trumpet’s sound.
“I want to build upon what I’ve already established as opposed to breaking things down,” he explains. “I want to embrace all the things I love. For instance, I love soul music so I’m trying to filter that through all the other things I’m experiencing and how the music feels now. History runs concurrently. What existed is very much a part of what we do now. But how that’s interpreted and how that feels makes a difference. We don’t relate to Louis Armstrong [his music] the same way people related to it in the 1920s. It’s still valid, but a lot of things have happened since. I’m just trying to expound upon it.”
Payton’s comment on the inevitable comparisons of his new release to trumpeter Miles Davis’ revolutionary album Bitches Brew, also demonstrates his aim in contributing to jazz’s heritage and evolution. Says Payton: “If there was no Bitches Brew, to me there would be no Sonic Trance.”
Sonic Trance is remarkably the seventh album by the 30-year-old trumpeter player and undoubtedly will be the most controversial. That’s especially true because it comes from player who some thought would walk in Wynton Marsalis’ shoes and who was even viewed as an incarnate of Louis Armstrong or King Oliver.
As a new husband with a new abode, new label, new band and a new album of music aimed in a new direction, Payton enjoys a positive outlook on life as he awaits the reaction to the disc.
“That’s gonna be the story,” Payton concedes, “more so than anything I say or marketing from the company.”
JF SLASHES SECOND LINE FUNDS
Social aid and pleasure clubs and followers of their weekly, second line anniversary parades anxiously awaited the outcome the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s mid-August meeting. On the agenda was the question of whether the foundation would continue to provide funds for the police escorts that are required by the City at the four-hour, Sunday afternoon processions. With the second line “season” (last Sunday in August through about mid-June) just around the corner, the prospect of the organizations having to come up with the fees—$955 for a one or two unit parade with proportional increases for larger processions—could be a concern especially for some of the less well-heeled groups.
The foundation offered good news and bad news.
“We’ll do some funding,” says foundation executive directorWali Ra’oof, “but not at the level it was last year. The statement I’m making is that the spirit of my commitment and our commitment to this culture is here even though it may not be at the financial level that it was.”
Ra’oof estimates that the foundation, a non-profit organization, provided $25,000 for police protection at the parades during the 2002/2003 season. Speaking justthe day after the meeting, he couldn’t state a specific amount that will be made available for parade security. He did say the cut in funding is “substantial.” A formula for exactly how the monies, which are paid directly to the police department, will be allotted to the organizations is yet to be determined.
“I think it’s a temporary thing,” Ra’oof says of the reductions, adding that he hopes that financing will be reinstated next year. He blames the cuts on the foundation’s decreased overall operating budget due to lower profits from the 2003 Jazz & Heritage Festival, which acts as its major fundraiser. “If we would have just had 10,000 [more] people show up that first Thursday, that would have been enough revenues to not only take care of the [parade] funding but other programs.”
So far, 33 anniversary parades are tentatively scheduled for the upcoming season with open days still to be filled in. It’s still too early to judge how the cutbacks will effect the social aid and pleasure clubs as they continue the over 100-year New Orleans parade tradition.
“It ain’t gonna stop no clubs,” says a confident Sylvester Francis, director of the Back Street Cultural Museum, which specializes in the second line traditions. “If you want to parade, you’re gonna come up with the money. They’re gonna find a way.”
The Black Men of Labor kicks off the season on August 31 with the Young Men Olympian Jr. Benevolent Association presenting two events this month. The first is on September 14 and the big, five-unit procession rolls on September 28.