Walter Payton

On his first several albums beginning in the mid-'90s, trumpeter Nicholas Payton appeared intent on establishing the range of his New Orleans influences, whether Wynton Marsalis or Louis Armstrong, to whom Payton paid tribute on 2001's Dear Louis. Then, on 2003's Sonic Trance, Payton threw a curve by diving headfirst into the world of late-'60s/early-'70s Miles Davis, complete with funky wah-wahs and sprawling electric keyboards. Into the Blue is another turnabout, and a welcome one: on this set of mostly original compositions, a pensive, largely laid-back Payton truly comes into his own. The ten tunes, recorded in New Orleans, offer a variety of moods, from melancholy to jubilant, an elegance permeating all of the performances…

Musician, boxer, painter, and poet, Champion Jack was the renaissance man of the blues. He spent the last 30 years of his life living in Europe, but returned to his New Orleans birthplace for some of the early '90s Jazz and Heritage Festivals. In 1991 he stayed stateside long enough to record his second Bullseye Blues album and play a few select U.S. dates before returning to Europe for an exhibition of his paintings in a Swedish art gallery. This batch of Champion Jack originals includes "Yella Pocahontas," the name of the tribe he ran with in New Orleans in the old days (Bo Dollis of the Wild Magnolias sings and plays tambourine on this one), and features backing from his longtime guitarist Kenn Lending, slide player John Mooney, New Orleans bassist Walter Payton, Jr. and others.

Musician, boxer, painter, and poet, Champion Jack was the renaissance man of the blues. He spent the last 30 years of his life living in Europe, but returned to his New Orleans birthplace for some of the early '90s Jazz and Heritage Festivals. In 1991 he stayed stateside long enough to record his second Bullseye Blues album and play a few select U.S. dates before returning to Europe for an exhibition of his paintings in a Swedish art gallery. This batch of Champion Jack originals includes "Yella Pocahontas," the name of the tribe he ran with in New Orleans in the old days (Bo Dollis of the Wild Magnolias sings and plays tambourine on this one), and features backing from his longtime guitarist Kenn Lending, slide player John Mooney, New Orleans bassist Walter Payton, Jr. and others.