“A SUPREME BLUE” DRAWS EARLY CRITICAL PRAISE
Nicholas Payton and Butcher Brown’s Concord Jazz collaboration is racking up acclaim from critics on both sides of the Atlantic
Videos “All Blues” and “Resolution”
A Supreme Blue, the collaborative album from Nicholas Payton and Butcher Brown on Concord Jazz, continues to draw critical acclaim since its release in late July, with reviews and features landing across jazz media, mainstream press, and public radio on both sides of the Atlantic.
Check out what critics are saying:
While many reimaginings by acknowledged innovators end up being overcooked, here we have subtle yet distinctive threads from Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and Davis’s Kind of Blue being woven into a lucid but never overstated fabric of contemporary styles.
— BBC Music Magazine (5/5 Stars)
Remarkable performances.
— DownBeat (3.5/5 Stars)
A fresh, modern sounding record that engages playfully and creatively with the legendary source material…absolutely brilliant.
— Jazzwise (4/5 Stars)
It’s the shared love of these richly spiritual tunes that shines through.
— MOJO (4/5 Stars)
A Supreme Blue is not a museum piece but a translation. It reframes two landmark statements through a contemporary sonic language that privileges groove, texture, and atmosphere. House rhythms, electric keyboards, and layered production reshape the modal and spiritual frameworks of the originals, rendering them less austere and more rhythmically grounded.
— All About Jazz
They have remade A Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme, drawing on the modality, spirituality and African rhythms of both. Rhythms are changed, electronics are deployed, but the inspiration is always embedded in the originals. It’s a lot of fun.
— The Times of London (4/5 Stars)
Just as Miles and Trane constantly looked far into the future with their vision of jazz, these collaborators are anything but stuck in the past with their takes on Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme tracks. A dub mix and a heavy dose of funk, house and hip-hop show the genius of their writers. Songs that continue to grow and are ready-made for music of the future.
— KAXE
A joyful and inspirational musical statement.
— San Diego County News
Every groove, harmonic shift, instrumental color, and exchange grows from musicians listening as deeply as they play. In the end, A Supreme Blue is a bold reminder that the strongest ensembles share the responsibility of leading the music.
— Jazz Sensibilities
Recorded at Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia, A Supreme Blue does not position itself as tribute. Payton, in collaboration with Butcher Brown, brings the full weight of his musical voice to a band that meets him at every turn. The album’s rhythmic architecture draws on the modal and spiritual common ground shared by both source records, refracted through the pulse of House music, dub, and the full breadth of the Black American musical tradition.
PERSONNEL
Nicholas Payton: Trumpet, Rhodes, Piano, Vocoder, Vocals, Thumb Piano
Tennishu: Tenor Saxophone
Morgan Burrs: Guitar
DJ Harrison: Keyboards, Melodica, Guitar
R4ND4ZZO: Bass Guitar, Synth Bass
Corey Fonville: Drums, Percussion
Conceptualized by Nicholas Payton
Produced by Nicholas Payton and Butcher Brown
Photo credit: The Sunroom
Butcher Brown Online
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