Nicholas Payton - Nick@Night (1999)

Front Cover	Album Info
	Artist/Composer Nicholas Payton Title Nick@Night Length 71:35 Discs: 1 Tracks: 13 Format CD-R (copy) Packaging Jewel Case Label Polygram Cat. Number 547 598-2 Style Neo-Bop Rating Recorded maj 1999  Comment szlachetne brzmienie; świetny też pianista

Musicians	Credits
Nicholas Payton trumpet, fluegerhorn Tim Warfield sax tenor, sax soprano Anthony Wonsey piano, harpsichord Reuben Rogers bass Adonis Rose drums	Producer Nicholas Payton Producer Richard Seidel

Track list

01 Beyond the Stars 05:46 02 Captain Crunch [Meets the Cereal Killer] 05:31 03 Faith [for Faith Evans] 08:39 04 Pleasant Dreams 04:34 05 Interlude #1 (Turn Up the Funk) 00:55 06 Nick@Night 06:14 07 Somnia 05:24 08 Interlude #2 (Turn Out the Burn Out) 01:10 09 Prince of the Night 06:51 10 Blacker's Black Revenge 08:28 11 Little Angel [for Christopher] 05:58 12 Exquisite Tenderness 04:52 13 Sun Goddess 07:13

Notes

AMG Review by Richard S. Ginell (3): By the last years of the 1990s, Nicholas Payton's trumpet-playing and leadership abilities were growing in leaps and bounds in live performance. However, the valedictory record of that decade displays growth only in the former and mostly caution in the latter, for Payton remains staunchly committed to the neo-bop verities and ceremonies. Part of the problem is that Payton's material — he contributes ten of the 13 tracks — is still not terribly memorable by and large, although he may be developing a distinctive talent for naming tunes. You gotta love titles like "Captain Crunch (Meets the Cereal Killer)" and "Nick@Night," but the music is strictly traditional stuff, refusing to transcend the ordinary. There are exceptions early and late on the disc when touches of instrumental enterprise peek through; "Beyond the Stars" would sound like an ordinary slice of post-bop were it not for the fact that Anthony Wonsey (and Payton!) are playing harpsichords, adding a sting from an instrument not explored much in jazz since the swing era. The multi-sectioned "Faith" also has its best moments when backed by harpsichord and celeste, and "Sun Goddess," a tune done by Ramsey Lewis in the '70s, has a striking harpsichord-backed opening. There is no doubt that Payton's choice of notes and use of space continues to mature, and his quintet — with Wonsey on piano, Tim Warfield on saxophones, Reuben Rogers on bass, and Adonis Rose on drums — just gets tighter and more intuitively interactive.