Jazz trumpet player at the University of North Texas.

Since 1994 when Nicholas Payton made his recording debut as a leader with From This Moment, the trumpeter has been lauded as a significant, top-tier voice in jazz. Even though he started out as a “young lion of jazz,” heralded as one of the new-generation guardians of the hard bop flame, Payton consistently committed himself to discovering his voice outside of the strict confines of that rearview mirror approach to the music.
While his jazz journey has taken him down many roads—from heritage artist to electric experimenter—the 34-year-old trumpeter arrives at a new plateau of jazz maturity with Into the Blue, his ninth album and his first for Nonesuch . It’s at once a nod to the past and a leap into the future. “It’s an amalgam of every recording I’ve done up until now,” says Payton. “As a musician, as an artist, you’re always trying to zero in on the bull’s eye as a means of becoming a better version of yourself. With Into the Blue, I’ve been able to find the kind of music that’s more inclusive of all of my life. The approach and the ideas of my music have become more singular, more cohesive. I had no agenda in terms of a specific genre or style, only to be true to who I am now.”

Bob Reynolds is a saxophonist, composer, and educator known for his work with John Mayer and Snarky Puppy. He has worked with Michael Bublé, Usher, Josh Groban, Amos Lee, Richard Bona, Eric Harland, Aaron Goldberg, Bernie Worrell and Leo Nocentelli, among others. He’s composed over 50 songs, released 6 albums, and received 4 ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Awards. 2013's Somewhere In Between hit #1 on iTunes’ Jazz charts. A summa cum laude graduate of Berklee College of Music, Reynolds lives in Los Angeles. His online saxophone lessons were recently profiled in The New York Times.


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