Nicholas Payton & Butcher Brown celebrate Miles & Trane with Karl Denson
Friday, April 24, 2026
New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Jazz & Blues Market - A Supreme Blue: Miles & Trane Centennial Celebration

Schoeps MK4 > NBob active cables > baby NBox > Zoom H6 essential > WAV (32/48) > Vegas Pro (slight eq) > CD Wave Editor (tracking) > FLAC (24/48)
Recorded by Funk It Blog

8pm early set:
01. So What
02. Freddie Freeloader
03. Nicholas speaks
04. Acknowledgement
05. Resolution
06. drum solo > Pursuance
07. Psalm
08. All Blues

Nicholas Payton - keyboards & trumpet
Karl Denson - tenor saxophone & flute
Morgan Burrs - guitar
Marcus Tenney - tenor saxophone
Andrew Randazzo - bass
Corey Fonville - drums

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq-FFPUZAtQ&t=1544s
https://concordjazz.com/blogs/news/nicholas-payton-and-butcher-brown-a-supreme-blue
https://butcherbrownmusic.bandcamp.com/album/a-supreme-blue

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Nicholas Payton & Butcher Brown Celebrate Miles & Trane
With Special Guest Karl Denson
Apr 24 / FRI
8 & 10 PM

2x-GRAMMY® Award-Winning & 5x-GRAMMY® Nominated Trumpeter NICHOLAS PAYTON teams up with the Acclaimed Collective BUTCHER BROWN for a bold tribute to jazz legends Miles Davis and John Coltrane, with Special Guest Saxophonist & Vocalist KARL DENSON.

The New Orleans-born Nicholas Payton has followed his calling since growing up under the tutelage of his parents — acclaimed bassist Walter Payton and Maria Payton, a pianist and vocalist. Already a prodigy before entering the first grade, he began playing trumpet at age four and started performing professionally at age 10. Before the age of 20, he was already in demand by everyone from Danny Barker and Clark Terry to Elvin Jones and Marcus Roberts. Payton released his first album, 'From this Moment', in 1995 on the famed Verve label. He received his first GRAMMY® nomination in 1997 for the album 'Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton', and won "Best Instrumental Solo" that year.

Payton has released over 20 recordings as a leader, pushing musical boundaries and showcasing a variety of contemporary and traditional styles, while displaying his ambidextrous ability to play both the trumpet and keyboard at the same time when he’s inspired to do so. He has collaborated with numerous mentors and contemporaries alike, ranging from Common and Cassandra Wilson to Trey Anastasio, MonoNeon, and Jill Scott, to Dr. John, Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste of The Meters, Allen Toussaint, and Abbey Lincoln to name a few. Payton's second GRAMMY® win for "Best Jazz Instrumental Album" cam from his feature on Terri Lyne Carrington's album, 'New Standards Vol. 1' (2022). Nicholas' most recent album 'DRIP', features Christie Dashiell, Michael Franks, Robert Glasper, and Patrice Rushen.

In addition to Payton’s work as a performer, he is an equally respected composer, having written 'The Black American Symphony' an orchestral work, which the Czech National Symphony Orchestra commissioned and performed. He led a live concert performance of Miles Davis’ renowned 'Sketches of Spain' with the Basel Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland.

"Pretty much all the music that I play is centered in Black culture, Black music. And that’s why I’ve eschewed jazz and came up with the terminology, Black American Music, because I want to be connected to the whole of it,” Payton says about genre. “It’s all the same. John Coltrane and Charlie Parker and James Brown could be neighbors. So what’s the distinction there? The only difference in the music is who they came through, and where they’re from.”

As a leader, Payton’s seminal writings and discussions on the problematics of the term and associations of “jazz” have inspired musicians, researchers, music listeners, and thinkers alike. As such, he termed Black American Music, or #BAM for short, to represent the breadth of improvisational musical creations created by Black people in the U.S., regardless of genre. His introduction of #BAM into the lexicon of popular music discourse landed him an entry in the New York Times‘ “The Decade in Jazz: 10 Definitive Moments” in 2019.

“(Black American Music) is … a liberation music, it is our first global recognition in humanizing, if you will, a class of people who were systematically dehumanized for centuries,” Payton says. “The concern for me is to draw from the wellspring of all the great Black ancestors who inspired me to play this music in the first place. And to hopefully keep that energy, that spirit.”

This performance honors the timeless partnership and revolutionary spirit of Miles and Trane, while pushing the music boldly into the present. Prepare for a remarkable night of powerful reinterpretations that celebrate Black American Music icons Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

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