A Supreme Blue is a collaboration between New Orleans trumpeter and composer Nicholas Payton and 21st century Virginia jazz-funk ensemble Butcher Brown. In celebration of the centennial birthdays of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, this 70-minute set offers complete performances of Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme. These aren’t straight renderings or re-creations; the album reflects the original recordings as guideposts for reinterpetation using a canny hybrid of jazz, hip-hop, dub, funk, house rhythms, electronics, layered production, and modern grooves.
On opener “So What,” the unmistakable call-and-response structure is replaced by a syncopated, soul-funk groove introduced by a heavily reverbed dubwise vamp from R4ND4ZZO’s…
Tag Archive: Nicholas Payton
The multi-hyphenate Nicholas Payton premieres a new trio, recording alongside eccentric bassist Esperanza Spalding and straight-ahead luminary Karriem Riggins, a roster enough to whet any forward-thinking listener’s appetites. Payton, beyond his wildly successful sideman stints with Oscar Peterson, Mulgrew Miller and Milt Jackson, has also made great strides to define his own worldly, idiosyncratic style as leader and solo artist, drawing from both his bopping lineage and the moodier, atmospheric ambitions of his peers. He parades confidently through no-nonsense bop and funk alike, contemporary fusion and hip-hop—nothing fazes him. Payton is insatiable, varied, defined only by a cohesive formalism, a workmanlike approach to performance…