While 2008 may go down as one of the more turbulent years in recent (or distant) memory, or, more optimistically, a time of change, there is much to celebrate in the year in music. Nonesuch artists across all genres have contributed to that and, accordingly, have made their way onto many critics' lists of the year's best. For the final Nonesuch Journal article of the year, we offer an overview of just some of that year-end critical praise.

Nicholas Payton makes his way down to Brazil this week for the Tudo É Jazz Festival in Ouro Preto, where he'll perform on Saturday night. The event follows last week's five-night residency at New York's Jazz Standard with bassist Christian McBride and guitarist Mark Whitfield. The New York Times jazz critic Nate Chinen says the trio members "have a number of things in common: complete rhythmic assurance, for one, and an intrepid approach within the modern jazz mainstream."

Nicholas Payton joins bassist Christian McBride and guitarist Mark Whitfield at New York's Jazz Standard for 12 sets over five nights, beginning tonight. JamBase compares the trumpeter to Miles Davis and John Coltrane, but asserts that, on his Nonesuch debut, Into the Blue, "ultimately Payton has a style and mood all his own." Jazz.com sees the album as evidence of "an ample comfort zone with a trumpet continuum spanning Armstrong to Don Cherry, at the service of a conceptual sensibility that embraces the Hot Five and Weather Report in equal measure."

Nicholas Payton's recent release, Into the Blue, his Nonesuch debut, is among "a great wave of important new jazz recordings" out this summer, according to Chicago Tribune music critic Howard Reich. He points to "a lyric melancholy" that pervades the album and which Payton uses "to haunting effect" throughout.

The work of Cincinnati, Ohio-based photographer Michael Wilson has graced the covers of countless Nonesuch albums over the years, including the iconic imagery featured on Nonesuch albums by David Byrne, Bill Frisell, Emmylou Harris, Randy Newman, the Brad Mehldau Trio, and Nicholas Payton. His photography will be on display in an exhibit at the Boone County Public Library in Cincinnati beginning this Wednesday. Michael will be on hand to discuss his work in an opening reception that night.

Last Wednesday, Nicholas Payton performed in what the Associate Press calls one of "the most exciting sets" at the seventh and final Jammy Awards, honoring the best in improvised music. Payton recently spoke with All About Jazz contributor R. J. DeLuke about his career and the making of his newly released Nonesuch debut, Into the Blue, which the site says shows the trumpeter "as a thoughtful composer and a player who pays as much attention to his sound as his plentiful technique."

"The first poignant tones make it clear that trumpeter Nicholas Payton is hitting a sweet spot on his new CD," says the Philadelphia Inquirer in its 3.5-star review of Payton's Nonesuch debut, Into the Blue, a blend of "dreaminess with some serious playing."

Nicholas Payton recently performed at the New Orleans JazzFest; it was in that city, his hometown, where Payton recorded his Nonesuch debut, Into the Blue, last fall. The Washington Post says the new album "boasts relaxed, self-assured performances" and calls it "a summing-up of sorts, an album that recalls some of Payton's previous acoustic and fusion-inspired work yet manages to sound fresh and inspired---even surprising."

On his Nonesuch debut, Into the Blue, Nicholas Payton offers a unique rendition of "Chinatown" that Jazz.com names Song of the Day, citing Payton's "creating a sensuously delicious mood of sultry, slow-steamed blues blended with the mystery of a Raymond Chandler novel. The site recently named the Brad Mehldau Trio's version of Ray Noble's "The Very Thought of You," from the new Live CD, a Song of the Day as well.

Nicholas Payton spoke with WBGO producer Josh Jackson fresh from recording his Nonesuch debut, Into the Blue. With the album out this week, the show is now available at npr.org as part of the Favorite Sessions series, on which public radio hosts present their favorite in-studio sessions. "I'm always looking for unique moments, times and places when musicians are creating at a high level, and try to bring those moments to anyone who will listen," says Jackson. "This was the moment to get them," he says of Payton and the band. "The iron was hot."

Nicholas Payton's Nonesuch debut, Into the Blue, set for release this Tuesday, receives four stars from The Guardian, which contends that listeners who think they know what to expect from the New Orleans trumpeter "might be very surprised" by his latest work. Into the Blue "is full of inspired ballad-rhapsodising, unhurried uptempo improvisations that pulsate with feints and twists, and original compositions and reshaped modern urban and Latin grooves that reveal an incisive creative intelligence."