Nov. 5
Once upon a time it seemed that New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton was the reincarnation of Louis Armstrong, with his bright virtuosic phrases and Big Easy swing. Then came 2003’s Sonic Trance and last year’s Into the Blue, which transplanted Payton into slow, spacy fusion jams that had more in common with Bitches Brew than Satchmo Plays W.C. Handy. Though he now grounds himself with electronics (and occasionally even techno beats), Payton hasn’t sacrificed his roots in blues, lyricism, and swing—he just lifts them into the stratosphere. Payton performs with his quartet at 8 and 10 pm at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Avenue NW. $30.

Nov. 7
On the other hand, Marcus Strickland jumps freely back and forth between acoustic and electric musical projects. The tenor saxophonist has worked with drummers Roy Haynes and Jeff “Tain” Watts as well as the two (equal and opposite) major trumpeters of the era, the traditionalist Wynton Marsalis and experimentalist Dave Douglas, and finds a comfortable and unique niche in all settings. That also applies to his own bands – Strickland leads both the Twi-Life group, which flirts with electro-funk and hip-hop, and a straight-ahead trio. It’s the latter that appears at Bohemian Caverns at 9 and 11 pm, featuring Strickland’s identical twin brother E.J. on drums and DC native and this year’s Thelonious Monk Competition winner Ben Williams on bass. Don’t be fooled: the acoustic trio will offer plenty of surprises from the other side of the fence.

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Saxophonist Marcus Strickland was named as one of JazzTimes magazine’s “New Visionaries” this month, partially for his pedigrees in funk and hip-hop as well as jazz. As if to demonstrate this, last night at Blues Alley he played songs by Stevie Wonder (”She’s Got It Bad”) and OutKast (”She’s Alive”) back-to-back. It surprised even Strickland: “I never thought I’d be covering a song written by an emcee,” he remarked before “She’s Alive.”

Strickland’s new quartet is loaded with players who can be described in superlatives: the drummer, twin brother E.J. Strickland, is perhaps jazz’s most powerful drummer under 30; guitarist Mike Moreno is easily one of the most nimble improvisers; and Ben Williams is one of the most intellectual bassists. As for Marcus, he’s packed with new melodic and harmonic ideas that he filters through a haughty, lusty sound on his tenor (he lightens up a bit, but not too much, when he switches to soprano). Many of the tunes he led the band through were new, and played with as much muscle as he could muster.

If you couldn’t make either set last night, a good place to start with Strickland is his last year’s Open Reel Deck album, which I wrote “targets the intellect even as it makes the head bob. It’s fun and engaging[.]” Check it out.