Nicholas Payton - Into The Blue (Nonesuch)
3/5
By: Charlie Potter
Son of Walter Payton, this is Jazz trumpeter Nicholas Payton's first album in 5 years, and probably the most laid back album you are likely to hear recorded in 2008 in our crazy rush of a society gone mad. You get the distinct feeling that Into The Blue has been made with people who have been left by their partner in mind, it's the sort of album to crack open the whiskey to on a rainy day. Or evening. Don't judge me.
If you have been left by a lover, then this album will sooth you, help you reflect, and ultimately drown your sorrows. However if you have not been left recently this album will make you slowly fall into a state of laid back, giggling delirium. I was resistant at first, thinking it's just too generic, but by the end of it you cannot think of this album in a context containing other albums, the only thing that you can think is 'heyyy man.......yeaaaahhhh...'.
To begin with it sounds very much like some early Tom Waits, but when you hit the later tracks the whiskey thing is gone and the album takes on a much more fun and playful tone, more like 'hey!' than 'heyyyyy'.
The thing that will keep you coming back to it more than anything else is the lasting dialogue between the trumpet and the Rhodes. Te Rhodes sort of primes you and eases you into the vibe, making you comfortable, pulling you up a seat, turning the lights down, pouring a drink, ironing your shirt, then the trumpet sort of antagonises you and teases you, and with punchy wandering lines it tells you a story about some fella, or some other fella, or something.
There are probably about a million jazz reference points I'm missing here, but I can tell you that the production is dope, clean as a whistle, round as a pound, low and warm. Yeaaah, hit me with it pappa Payton, ooooh that's the stuff. And good production of course makes a beautiful marriage with perfectionist musicians, at times the production even could be said to go a little too far, you can't really be expected to keep a straight face when the bell tree comes in, but then if I'm totally honest I think that there is a sort of ironic almost comedy enjoyment that you can get from this whole affair. After all the sound does largely come from the past and is more like things that you hear in films than stuff most people would normally listen to. Everyone knows that everything that happened in the past is funny because they didn't know some stuff that we know today and people dressed different and said different things - hilarious!
But once again, far from being a comedy record, the thing that really keeps you hooked is when Mr. Payton is just teasing you along, confounding your expectations, stripping it down, nudging the rhythm along a little bit at a time, feeding tiny little bits of the finest creamy yet nutritious golden brass melody pastes. Once again - yeeeaaaaaahhhh.
If you're like me and constantly caught up in the aforementioned world of flashing lights and colours, then I thoroughly recommend listening to this album in headphones, big headphones, quality ones that don't let the sound of the rest of the world in. All you'll need is a bit of patience.
Artists in this article: Nicholas Payton
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