Nicholas Payton, steps away
Nicholas Payton and most of humanity are within 6 degrees of each other. This matrix combines the small-world principle behind this seemingly magical fact with inter-artist recommendations-in-series in order to make all artists potential curators and discoverable within a handful of steps from everywhere on the planet. It works like this:
I RECOMMEND people (do you?)Nicholas Payton & degrees of proximity
Why again is Nicholas Payton mere steps away from other artists in here, and by extension, most everybody on the planet???
WHO CURATES "I RECOMMEND" ABOVE?
- Vertex/Edges Out by: The Matrix
Artist & Where
- Name: Nicholas Payton
- City/Place: New Orleans
- Country: United States
Life & Work
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Bio:
Multi-instrumentalist, composer and trumpet master, Nicholas Payton is one of the most important artists working and recording today. A virtuoso before he was out of high school, his talent and skills have earned him praise and accolades and ensured his place in musical history. Spanning a multitude of musical genres, Payton has composed and arranged, performed and recorded with his own groups in many settings, including solo, duo, trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, 21-piece big band, as well as his 2012 full orchestral work The Black American Symphony.
Payton is the president of his own successful independent label Paytone Records. The latest project is the Afro-Caribbean Mixtape where he seamlessly merges contemporary music, African rhythms, and the voices of historical figures with a performance and execution that is unmatched. Payton notes, “It is often said that New Orleans is the northernmost region of the Caribbean. Africa is the source of all rhythms. The Afro-Caribbean Mixtape is a study of how those rhythms were dispersed by way of the Middle Passage throughout Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico, then funneled through the mouthpiece of New Orleans to North America and the rest of the world.”
Payton was born into a musical family in New Orleans, Louisiana. He showed talent for music at a very early age. He received his first trumpet at age 4 and by age 9 was sitting in with local bands including the Young Tuxedo Brass Band. By the age of 12, he was a member of the All-Star Brass Band that performed and toured extensively. As he developed and studied, Nicholas successfully learned how to play several instruments. In addition to being an accomplished trumpeter, Nicholas plays piano, bass, drums, tuba, trombone, clarinet and saxophone, et al. During his high school years, Payton attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts to study with Clyde Kerr Jr. and after graduation attended the University of New Orleans where he studied with Harold Battiste and Ellis Marsalis, among others.
When he was barely in his 20s, Nicholas made his major-label recording debut as a band leader on Verve Records. Since then, he has recorded a multitude of albums, as well as performed world-wide with his own groups and as a special guest. At age 25, Nicholas won a Grammy Award for his collaboration with Doc Cheatham.
Payton has toured the world with Ray Brown, Elvin Jones and lists significant collaborations including Trey Anastasio, Ray Charles, Daniel Lanois, Dr. John, Stanley Jordan, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Joe Henderson, Zigaboo Modeliste, Marcus Roberts, Jill Scott, Clark Terry, Allen Toussaint, Chucho Valdes, Dr. Michael White, Nancy Wilson, and many more. He recently produced a brilliant Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald for the gifted singer Jane Monheit. He is credited on over 140 recordings as a composer, arranger, special guest or sideman.
Contact Information
- Email: info@nicholaspayton.com
Media & Markets
- ▶ Buy My Music (downloads/CDs/DVDs): http://www.nicholaspayton.com/recordings-1
- ▶ Buy My Merch: http://www.nicholaspayton.com/merch
- ▶ Twitter: paynic
- ▶ Instagram: nicholaspayton
- ▶ Website: http://www.nicholaspayton.com
- ▶ YouTube Music: http://music.youtube.com/channel/UC-rElz7xqZdiO4Jm5CdoM_g
- ▶ Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/0lohKc2RubArv0PbjXJYNB
- ▶ Spotify 2: http://open.spotify.com/album/5t0nB0jlH90gEN9aJkDICL
- ▶ Spotify 3: http://open.spotify.com/album/3dVn6rTkCac0p0rdLEBWPn
- ▶ Spotify 4: http://open.spotify.com/album/3sKFT6DFw4kMA5DxvhmRjL
- ▶ Spotify 5: http://open.spotify.com/album/7j6BfBfi3PlGqieUvHARy3
- ▶ Spotify 6: http://open.spotify.com/album/5AEdjCWVy16ZX8eo2Cwy6L
Clips (more may be added)
ABOUT THE MATRIX
This matrix is dedicated to creative artists and non-algorithmic discovery.
It was described (to some degree) and can be accessed via this article in British journal The Guardian (which named our radio of matrixed artists as one of ten best in the world):
www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/apr/17/10-best-music-radio-station-around-world
While the Brazilian musicians I work with now you may not know, I formerly worked (chasing unpaid royalties!) on behalf of Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Led Zeppelin, Jim Hall, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Wah Wah Watson (Melvin Ragin), Philip Glass, The Cadillacs (Earl Carroll), The Flamingos (Zeke and Jake Carey), and others, including Oscar-winning world-class great-guy Robb Royer. I was interviewed by David Dye for broadcast on U.S. National Public Radio several years ago ... about the Brazilians:
- Randy "Pardal/Sparrow" Roberts
All is more connected than we know.
w/ David Dye for U.S. National Public Radio
The matrix was inspired in (the kabbalah-inspired fiction of) Borges' El Aleph, that in the pillar in Cairo's Mosque of Amr, where the universe in its entirety throughout all time is perceivable as an infinite hum from deep within the stone...
Our logo, per the "spirit" above, is a cortador de cana, a cane cutter. It was designed by Walter Mariano, professor of design at the Federal University of Bahia to reflect the origins of the music the shop specialized in. The Brazilian "aleph" doesn't hum... it dances and sings.
