** Nicholas Payton

NICK@NIGHT

(Verve)

This is New Orleans-raised trumpet virtuoso Payton's slickest album. Its 13 compositions lean more toward fusion and an update of the classic "cool" sound than toward the gritty hard bop and street-corner jazz that have been his forte -- especially on his Grammy-winning 1997 collaboration Doc Cheatam & Nicholas Payton. Nonetheless, "Captain Crunch (Meets the Cereal Killer)" brings his hard-soloing aesthetic to the fore, blending airy melodies with turns like a trumpet/sax rumble and Anthony Wonsey's fleet bursts of fiery piano. Time and again it's the solos that snap otherwise pretty but drowsy compositions like "Prince of the Night" to your attention. Otherwise, Payton's concentration on sweet molasses writing and making his horn purr too often has things turning limpid. In fact, the only signposts for his trademark Crescent City growl are "Interlude #1" and "Interlude #2," excerpts from jams roughly a minute long, and the brass-knuckled bopper "Blacker Black's Revenge." Proof that too much "Exquisite Tenderness," as the CD's penultimate track is titled, can be dull.

-- Ted Drozdowski

(The Nicholas Payton Quintet plays Scullers February 17 and 18. Call 562-4111.)