Jazz or Blues?  Or both?  I'm not sure I know the difference, though I'm sure wiki or Nicholas Payton could tell me.  All I know is that there's a haunting overtone to blues music that defines it for me.  While jazz, just has free-wheeling zing in it, sometimes lurking outside the melody, but it gets you moving.  That's me, that's how I hear it.  Which is why I had a great time at the library listening to Nicholas Payton's latest album "Into The Blue."  There was a little of both on that album.  Payton will be at the Sheldon for a one-evening performance on November 7th.  His trumpet is a smooth highlight, slipping in and out of the songs, a little energy here, a little counterpoint there.  It's pretty beautiful stuff, some of it delightfully unexpected, though most of it is pretty snazzy with his trumpet dancing with some strong rhythms and carrying phrases that will sound spectacular in the Sheldon (with all due respect to the public library's audio equipment).  And go a little early to the Sheldon, dig a little deeper into the heart of the music by stopping into the Legends of St. Louis Blues Music exhibition in the History of Jazz Gallery.  Payton may be from New Orleans, but there's always little bit of St. Louis in anything that sounds like the blues, no matter how you define it.

Nicholas Payton plays the Sheldon on Saturday night, November 7th at 8pm.  Tickets available at Metrotix