Nicholas Payton has never been one to aim low. The multi-instrumentalist and composer decries the word jazz, preferring to call what he creates “postmodern New Orleans music”—he’s got a tune on this release called “Jazz Is a Four-Letter Word”—but he has nonetheless been labeled a jazz musician since his emergence, even as he continues to attempt to shed the term. Perhaps it’s best to give him the benefit of the doubt and approach this double-CD without any preconceptions at all. Payton and his collaborato —keyboardist Kevin Hays, bassist Vicente Archer, drummer Joe Dyson, percussionist Daniel Sadownick and turntablist DJ Lady Fingaz—both transcend and eviscerate genres in their quest to capture, as Payton has described it, “the resilience of black people and African culture.” Afro-Caribbean Mixtape deftly skirts the contemporary and the ancient here, slipping seamlessly between rhythms and sounds that suggest far-flung origins and eras. Quite often, as on “#BAMboula,” a 14-minute, easy-paced groove built atop Payton’s trumpet and a Fender Rhodes—both he and Hays are credited with playing the electric keyboard—the vibe is reminiscent of Miles Davis’ Afrocentric early-‘70s experiments, while “Junie’s Boogie,” with its throwback synth riffs, fatback rhythm and layered backing vocals, has more in common with classic Stevie Wonder or Earth, Wind & Fire. Not surprisingly, given the title, there is also a Latin element sewn in—the back-to-back “La Guajira” and “El Guajiro” mine that vein—and several tracks connect directly to pan-African rhythmic concepts. It’s nothing if not ambitious and, call it what you like—for this listener, jazz still suffices just fine—it’s an absorbing, finely crafted listen throughout.