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

Chinen writes that the repertoire the musicians chose to perform was secondary: "The main thing was the rapport." Even so, he points to the quickened pace of Whitfield's "The Marksman" in particular, for bringing out "the best in Mr. Payton, whose assertive solo conveyed both passion and reason."

All in all, he concludes, the set "infused proficiency and camaraderie with a modest dash of discovery."

Read the full review at nytimes.com.