Nicholas Payton

About

Nicholas Payton (born September 26, 1973, New Orleans) is a Grammy Award-winning trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer whose career spans over three decades. Raised in a musical family - his father Walter Payton was a renowned bassist - he was performing professionally by age ten and went on to record more than 20 albums as a leader. He coined the term #BAM (Black American Music) to describe the lineage of Black improvisational music, and his work ranges from hard bop and post-bop to funk, hip-hop, and orchestral composition.

111K

Spotify monthly listeners

12.2M

Spotify streams on top track 'The Last Goodbye'

20+

Albums released as leader

2×

Grammy Awards won

What's new

2025-08
Payton released TRIUNE (Smoke Sessions Records), a trio album with bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding and drummer Karriem Riggins, featuring guest appearances by Ivan Neville, Erica Falls, Nikki Glaspie, and Otis McDonald.
2025-05
Payton performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival alongside Esperanza Spalding, and at a Carnegie Hall-sponsored event in Queens, continuing an active touring schedule after his Berklee departure.
2025-04
Berklee College of Music terminated Payton's appointment as chair of the Brass Department following public attention to past social media posts that critics described as antisemitic; Payton denied the characterizations and stated he was given no formal review process.
2024-11
Payton was elevated to chair of the Brass Department at Berklee College of Music, a year after winning his second Grammy Award.
2025-05
Payton performed at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York with the Temple University Jazz Band.