Photo by Howard A. Gitelson
If Chicago isn't windy enough, the next two weeks will surely blow you away as thirty-something trumpet monsters Roy Hargrove (November 23-28) and Nicholas Payton (November 30-December 5) roar into town for back-to-back gigs at the Jazz Showcase.

After Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove is probably the best known trumpeter on the planet today. And at only 34, his output as a recording artist (9 sessions as leader) is almost as remarkable as his chops. His recent project, RH Factor, created a lot of buzz by merging R&B and hip-hop mainstream with jazz, but his past and current efforts are decidedly more Dizzy than Ice-T. As noted by Christopher Jones following a recent Hargrove Quintet performance at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley in Seattle, this is "straightforward, no-nonsense modern jazz...with integrity and conviction."

Don't be mislead by that "straight ahead" label. Said David Adler of the Roy Hargrove Quintet's shows at the Village Vanguard this spring, "There's a physical electricity to Hargrove's performance that is not terribly common in jazz." This is high energy, interactive, soulful group and solo finery.

Thirty-one year old Nicholas Payton has similarly followed a path from acoustic mainstream to electrified hip-hop, garnering Grammy and other recognition along the way. The New Orleans native was surrounded by musicians growing up (his mom sang opera and played piano, his dad was a respected jazz and classical bassist) and began playing trumpet at age 4. "Discovered" by Wynton Marsalis, young Payton played with Marcus Roberts and later Marsalis' bands; attended the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts and University of New Orleans, and in the early 1990s, played with Jazz Futures II along with Roy Hargrove. At about this time he joined Elvin Jones, eventually becoming the band's music director; his also did stints with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. Along with numerous recordings and appearances as a sideman and leader, Payton toured and recorded a set of duets with the late Doc Cheatham, for which he won a Grammy for his performance of "Stardust."

Revitalizing the jazz traditions of his native New Orleans, Payton has been acclaimed throughout the past decade for his "crackling spirit and the fiery chops of one of this generation's most gifted trumpet players" (Isaac Josephson, Jazz Times), issuing six recordings that included his reworkings of Louis Armstrong (Dear Louis, Universal) and Herbie Hancock (Fingerpainting, Polygram). Feeling that he had exhausted the potential of his working quintet, Payton shifted gears with Sonic Trance, a new ensemble fusing hip-hop, rock, African rhythms, funk grooves, and R&B. "I wanted to draw on my own experiences as opposed to playing jazz in the form it was 30, 40, 50 years ago." The resulting open-ended compositions have been compared to the effects attained by Miles Davis on Bitches Brew. Which is only fitting as Payton is currently touring not only with Sonic Trance (which has been nominated for a Grammy in the Contemporary Jazz category), but with a new quintet in "Tribute to Miles."

Over the next two weeks, the Jazz Showcase offers a unique opportunity to see the present and future of jazz trumpet in these two individual personas in close proximity. Both trumpeters will bring their current working quintets to Chicago, and the rafters will be seriously shaking.

For tickets, contact the Jazz Showcase at www.jazzshowcase.com; Roy Hargrove Quintet, November 23-28; Nicholas Payton Quintet (Tribute to Miles), November 30-December 5. Hargrove will be at the Village Vanguard in New York, December 14-18 (www.villagevanguard.com). Nicholas Payton's Quintet will move on to Zanzibar Blue in Philadelphia, December 10-11 (www.zanzibarblue.com)