Event Description

Grammy Award-winning trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, producer, arranger, essayist, and social activist. A native of New Orleans, Payton has dedicated his career to both honoring the rich traditions of his city and pushing the limits of what he terms “postmodern New Orleans music” while advocating for the broader continuum of Black American Music.

Nicholas was a prodigy from the start. By age four, he was already playing the trumpet, and before turning ten, he had begun performing professionally. By the age of twenty, Payton was in demand across the jazz and popular music spectrum.

Payton released his debut album, From This Moment, in 1995 on the Verve label. His 1997 album, Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton, garnered him his first Grammy nomination and a win for Best Instrumental Solo. Over the years, Payton has released more than twenty recordings as a leader. Known for his ambidextrous ability to play trumpet and keyboard simultaneously, he has collaborated with a remarkable range of artists.

He wrote The Black American Symphony, commissioned and performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, and has led orchestral performances of Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain with the Basel Symphony Orchestra. His writings and speeches have challenged conventional definitions of jazz, advocating for the term #BAM—Black American Music—to describe the full spectrum of improvisational music created by Black artists in the U.S. This philosophy earned him recognition in The New York Times’ “The Decade in Jazz: 10 Definitive Moments” in 2019.

For Payton, music is inseparable from life and culture. “Everything I write is about life experiences. The music means nothing without life. It’s vibrations and energy,” he explains.

Today, Nicholas Payton remains a defining voice in contemporary music, championing Black American Music with both reverence and innovation.