Rating:
Genre:
Jazz
Release Date: 06/09/1998
Run Time: 71:05
Nicholas Payton's third album as a leader is assuredly more commanding than his previous projects, and his technically flawless trumpet is right among the leaders in the
neo-bop field. Yet he remains essentially a preservationist, a throwback to the hard bopping '50s and '60s and a staunch believer in the orthodoxies and rituals involved. There are exceptions -- a nice '60s
Blue Note-style
boogaloo for starters (
"Zigaboogaloo"), a probing, driving, tempo-shifting workout on
Wayne Shorter's
"Paraphernalia" from
Miles in the Sky (which is about as progressive as the record gets) -- but conservatism prevails elsewhere, even in the mild-mannered cover of
the Stylistics'
"People Make the World Go Round." In a takeoff on
the Three Tenors,
"The Three Trumpeteers" finds
Payton joyously uniting and dueling with
Wynton Marsalis and the ubiquitous
Roy Hargrove; thankfully, one can tell them apart by ear despite the orthodox
hard bop format. Pianist
Anthony Wonsey, hard-nosed tenor saxman
Tim Warfield, bassist
Reuben Rogers and drummer
Adonis Rose expertly do what is expected of them, joined now and then by the above two guest trumpeters and another stock member of the
Young Lions cast, tenor
Joshua Redman.
~Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide
;)
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