Nicholas Payton Quintet

My first outing (not including post-op checkups at the doctor's office) in the past 10 days, was to the always-beautiful Miniachi Performing Arts Center to hear the South Florida Jazz Society's last concert of the year, which featured The Nicholas Payton Quintet. My son is the musician, not me, and I'm not qualified to write a bona fide jazz review, but I did enjoy show. Mr. Payton got right down to work, speaking not a word until just before intermission when he quickly introduced his band, and then announced the "short break," which I'm sure would have been shorter if not for the long line of people waiting to buy bottled water, beer and wine in the lobby. But no matter. We all needed a leg stretch (practically everyone in the audience cleared out for the intermission), and the balmy night felt good, even among the smokers outside.

I was surprised (though glad in a way, as I had no cash on me) that Payton did not bring any cd's to sell as most acts do there. My son has bought, and had autographed, a few cds from our other concert visits. My main regret about this show is that the pieces were not introduced or identified. I would have liked to know who composed them, and even their titles. The penultimate number--which Payton sang--sounded like a Dixieland Jazz standard, but I couldn't be sure. My other small complaint is that the way the stage was set up made it impossible (for us at least, second row center) to see Lawrence Fields' hands on either keyboard or acoustic piano. The placement of the Fender Rhodes keyboard hid his handwork on both instruments. We got clear views, however, of bassist Ben Williams, drummer Corey Fonville (both of whom are really fun to watch) and Daniel Sadownick on percussion. Payton faced the audience from center stage, meaning that we were staring into his trumpet bell as he played, which was a different experience than when we saw, for instance, Randy Brecker, who positioned himself at an angle and off-center so that his finger-work was easy to see.

This is nit-picking, though, you know. The concert was fabulous. These guys play perfectly together-- are always looking at and listening to each other, and because there's not much talking from the stage, we really got our money's worth musically-speaking. Finally, the encore was not gratuitous or throwaway, the way some encores can be--it was possibly the highlight of the show, delivered with energy and power. Kudos to the South Florida Jazz Society for bringing his fine quintet to our hot little corner of the world here. It's going to be a long stretch until November when the next concert series begins again.