Nicholas Payton - Sonic Trance

This 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)

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