On this special edition of Something Else! Reviews’ One Track Mind, we hand the reins over to the boundary-pushing Nicholas Payton You May Also Like: Nicholas Payton – ‘Smoke Sessions’ (2021)

Trumpeter Nicholas Payton may have begun his journey as part of the traditionalists in the early-1990s Young Lions movement, but he couldn’t have emerged any further afield. You May Also Like: Nicholas Payton – ‘Smoke Sessions’ (2021)

After a desultory, red-light district blast of horns, the Wynton Marsalis-led Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra settles into this funereal rhythm, swaying from side to side as Eric Clapton rips off a few blues-simmered, heartfelt asides. If you hadn’t checked the liner notes, the song itself — a signature momentRead More

by Tom Johnson In many ways, I am still no closer to being able to put words to my feelings for this album. Instead, I find myself forcing words upon it, all of which are rendered meaningless because they really don’t describe this album, only things that have come beforeRead More

by Mark Saleski Reviewers sometimes get too caught up playing the label game: jazz, pop, world (ah, the ambiguous catch-all label), rock, ambient. Whenever a writer struggles with material that lacks a definite musical anchor, I am reminded of the transformation seen through Miles Davis’ electric years. You May AlsoRead More

Claudio Roditi is on a roll coming off the critical triumph of Grammy nominated Brazilliance X 4 (2009), and the master trumpet player continues “trumpeting” his Brazilian roots with Bons Amigos. You May Also Like: Claudio Roditi’s Gorgeous ‘Brazilliance x4’ Deftly Balanced His Many Influences Claudio Scolari Project – ‘Cosmology’Read More

by S. Victor Aaron Bands led by horn players tend to work well if there’s a lot of rapport between the horn players. That’s not an issue for The Britton Brothers Band, whose trumpet player (John) and saxophonist (Ben) have the same parents. For this debut, these young cats builtRead More

NICK DERISO: Recorded live at the club Memory Lane in Los Angeles over a two-night stand on May 25-26, 1967, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie’s five-track “Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac” is sometimes criticized for its brevity. Sure. There have been boxed sets produced with slighter source material. Still, Gillespie, in particular onRead More

There is a grail-like anticipation to these recordings, captured during four live performances just as trumpeter Miles Dewey Davis’s career transformed from a twinkling light at dusk into remarkable super nova. Too, these aren’t your run-of-the-mill sideman constellations; they are, actually, all stars. Namely, the band features a still-rising JohnRead More

This record was, Blanchard told me, his love letter to Miles Davis. In retrospect, it was the beginning of his ascension from young lion into modern standard bearer, too. Born in New Orleans, and brought up in one of the final incarnations of Art Blakey’s traveling finishing school the JazzRead More