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The Real ThingIf you don't know who Jon Brion is, go look him up right now. It doesn't matter where you look him up, because he is practically ominpresent. Besides being a 90's pop-rock band veteran, he has built up a reputation as one of the most gifted and musical producers, composers, and singer-songwriters around today. Most would would probably know him as the composer and arranger of such mainstream movie soundtracks as Boogie Nights, I Heart Huckabees, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Others would unknowingly know him as the main producers for artists such as Aimee Mann, Rufus Wainwright, The Eels, Fiona Apple, Brad Mehldau, and most recently as co-producer for Kanye West. And yet the most privileged listeners would know him as A) a member of the one-off 90's pop band The Grays and B) the composer, lyricist, arranger, producer and engineer of his album Meaningless.
The beauty of 'Meaningless', to me, is that one cannot tell throughout the album that these songs are ones that Brion wrote the night before or has been working on for years. In the first sense it is because he has such a natural melodic intuition (and his other projects have all been so consistent), that one would not be surprised of an average daily output of such a creative person if pushed to create an album. However, in the second sense, this album is so well realized and produced and arranged that it would be deperessing for any other living musician to hear. Brion masters a tradition while maintaining originality at the same time. If 'Meaningless' has any drawback at all, it's that it doesn't quite show the full potential and ability of it's creator. If you really want to know the real Brion, you'll have to check out his production work, his soundtrack work, his band work, all in addition to this solo outing. He's (naturally) incredibly busy right now, but we should hope he has enough time to come out with another album of his own in the near future.
Nicholas Payton - Sonic TranceThis album, for a lot of people, was at first glance a response to Roy Hargrove's "Hard Groove" album. When Hargrove, always the main counterpart/competitor to Payton, skewed from his traditional itinerary to release an album sounding more like neo-soul than post-bop and more indebted to Bill Withers than Blue Mitchell, many wondered what Payton would do in response.When Sonic Trance came out, it was coined (most likely by Warner Bros.) just as "Hard Groove" was, and it seemed like a blatant attempt to catch up to the competition. And in the first track alone, Payton shows that he has no trouble connecting to his own soul roots; but he outdoes any soul or funk-laden track on "Hard Groove", as if to say "this is child's play". And that is the only similarity to Hargrove's new music for the rest of the album. Payton instead shows how the influence of albums like Bitches Brew, artists like Fela Kuti, and genres like Hip Hop have affected him. Because in its essence, those are the three main ingredients to this album. In fact, two of the longer tracks on the ablums are simply titled Fela 1 and Fela 2, honest homages to his influence. Tracks such as "Stinkie Twinkie (Remix)" and "Shabba Un-Ranked" clearly show his interest in hip hop, and utilizes the production skills of Karriem Riggins (former drummer in the Ray Brown trio, and hip hop producer most known for his work with Common). The majority of the album is just a recipe for indulgence for Payton. The album is unique not only in its musical direction and purpose, but its use of electronics and modern production and audio engineering. Payton may not have completely found his way on "Sonic Trance" but he definitely strayed far from the beaten path, and further showed his originality.2003 (Warner Bros)
Allmusic Review
Live Shows 4:Nicholas Payton Quintet: Jazz Standard - June 10th, 2007A pleasant surprise this summer was the Nicholas Payton Quintet. I originally went to the show because, as a trumpet player, I thought it was my duty. I don't often attend trumpet players' shows or even gravitate towards their records. But Payton has been one of the most significant trumpet players on the scene since the early 90's, and has in the recent past shown a remarkable amount of versatility and artistic merit. His tenure as a sideman for Greg Osby and in the SF Jazz Collective, as well as his dive into modern fusion with his last album "Sonic Trance", showed that he was far from a one-trick Pony. Whereas other trumpet players like Roy Hargrove and Terence Blanchard seem to just be further paving their already-clear paths, Payton has been rejoicing in his youth and experimenting as much as possible. And to much success. Knowing this, his recent show at the standard was even more of a pleasant surprise. With a quintet comrpised of Kevin Hays (on a heavily distortion-drenched Rhodes, and piano), Vicente Archer, (a very young) Marcus Gilmore and Daniel Sadownick, Payton stood on solid middle ground between his traditional roots and his experimental tendencies. The set opened up with a modal, fusion number that allowed all of the members to stretch out. What started out sounding like a B-Side to Bitches Brew ended up sounding like a modern hip-hop track. The fusion continued even into an extremely slick version of Mancini's classic "Days of Wine and Roses". Payton never showed off too much; he understands his role even in his own group. As much as he commands the direction of the band and his own sound, he is never over the top. This truly was a group. They may not be treading new waters, but they're happy lying in the happy medium between tradition and modernity, and they do it oh so well. Kudos to Payton for chilling out on the middle ground.
9/10
This show's lineup was almost exactly the same as Patyon's 2004 show at the NYC IAJE conference, save for Adonis Rose on drums and Tim Warfield on Saxophone. The recording of that 2004 show started out as a bootleg, but became so popular that it was actually (limitedly) released. Lucky for you I have it.
Nicholas Payton - Stardust (Live at IAJE, NYC 1-24-04)
In honor of a new Blockhead album, here is an old one:
Blockhead: Music By Cavelight (2005)
Blockhead rose to prominence as the main beat-maker for Aesop Rock on albums such as "Float" and "Labor Days", and now resides as an instrumental artist on the UK label NinjaTune. His three full-length albums were released one year after another, this being the first. In making an instrumental album, Blockhead made the smart decision of avoiding just making beats without MCs. This allows Blockhead to soak himself in his love of slower, more introspective tempos. His greatest skill is clearly his sample-finding and layering, but his amateur side clearly shows in the atonalities and disjointedness. This album definitely sounds like a long-time coming; the diversity and uniqueness of the samples sounds like they were being saved for a rainy day, only to all be let out at once. This album would later be seen as a single step in a brand new direction for Blockhead, but alone shows him as on of the more unique "hip-hop" producers around.
