The Week's Can't-Miss Performance

Born and raised amongst brass bands on the legendary streets of the French Quarter, 28-year-old Nicholas Payton blows his horn with the vibrant energy of the original New Orleans jazz artists. Dearly departed old-timer Doc Cheatham -- who traded hot licks with the young trumpeter on their 1994 Grammy-winning collaboration -- once said, "I haven't heard anybody like him since Louis [Armstrong]."

Vincent Soyez

Details

Wednesday through Saturday, Feb. 6-9, at 8 and 10 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 10, at 2 and 8 p.m.

Tickets are $18-22 for evening shows, and $5 for kids, $10 per adult with one kid, $18 general for the Sunday matinee

Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero West (at Washington), Oakland, (510) 238-9200

Related Content

• Awkward! The Top Five Most Uncomfortable Grammy Moments
  February 10, 2012
• Meet Linda Chorney, the Unknown Singer-Songwriter Who Got a Grammy Nomination
  February 10, 2012
• Adele's Grammy Performance: A Reminder of the Scary Power of an Honest, Gorgeous Song
  February 13, 2012
• Sunday: Jazz Royal McCoy Tyner Showcases Coltrane at Herbst Theatre
  October 17, 2011
• The Grammys: A Timeline of Madness and Misery
  February 13, 2012

More About

• Nicholas Payton
• French Quarter
• John Coltrane
• Elvin Jones
• Doc Cheatham

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Music Newsletter: Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

While Payton embodies the bright, soaring tone and charismatic phrasing of the golden age of jazz, he's no revivalist. Even while touring as a teenager with former John Coltrane drummer Elvin Jones, Payton was shaping a signature sound that integrated both traditional and modern jazz concepts into a big-picture style. His latest Verve recording, Dear Louis, shows off this synthesis to great effect, taking a dozen of Satchmo's well-worn titles and giving them a harmonic overhaul that belies the project's mainstream pitch. Buoyant with Payton's characteristic exuberance and a colorful arrangement style clearly indebted to Duke Ellington, the album bubbles over with surprising depth and vivacity.

Despite Payton's commercial profile, he has earned the respect of radical players like the late Lester Bowie, who once applauded the trumpeter's honesty, verve, and authentic grasp of history. In an era of watered-down mainstream jazz, Payton is the real deal.