Jazz

Gregory Porter - Be Good (2012)

2015-11-03T16:58:00Z

Gregory Porter - Be Good (2012)


1.Painted On Canvas
2.Be Good (Lion's Song)
3.On My Way To Harlem
4.Real Good Hands
5.The Way You Want To Live
6.When Did You Learn
7.Imitation Of Life
8.Mother's Song
9.Our Love
10.Bling Bling
11.Work Song
12.God Bless The Child

Gregory Porter – vocals
Chip Crawford - piano (1-11)
Aaron James - bass (1-6, 8-11)
Emanuel Harrold - drums (1-6, 8-11)
Kamau Kenyatta - soprano saxophone (1)
Keyon Harrold - trumpet (2-4, 8, 11), flugelhorn (3)
Yosuke Sato - alto saxophone (2, 3, 6, 8-11)
Tivon Pennicott - tenor saxophone (2-4, 8, 10, 11)

Debut albums often serve as fine introductions to the work of fledgling artists with potential for greater things, but that wasn't the case with Gregory Porter's Water (Motéma, 2010). Porter's debut, which was nominated for a Grammy Award, presented a vocal soul-jazz juggernaut that seemingly materialized out of thin air as a fully matured musical entity. His early experiences working in small San Diego clubs and singing in Off-Broadway and Broadway productions in New York helped Porter to establish himself as a vocal talent who doesn't merely sing songs but, rather, inhabits different personae delivering messages through music.

On Water, Porter showed that he was capable of shifting from politically charged fire and brimstone ("1960 What?") to soothing serenades ("But Beautiful"), demonstrating an extraordinary range in style and sentiment. He continues to branch out in various directions on Be Good, his highly anticipated sophomore effort. The album opens with the emotionally engaging "Painted On Canvas," and, on the title track, pianist Chip Crawford delivers dainty piano work, reflecting the "dancing" references in Porter's lyrics. Porter sings with Bill Withers-style bona fides on "Real Good Hands," as he convincingly explains to in-laws- to-be that he looks up to them and that their daughter will be taken care of. He exhibits a "flower power" attitude of peace and love as he marries jazz, soul and folk attributes on "Mother's Song," a tribute to his mother.

While the emphasis is squarely placed on Porter's own music—he penned nine out of the twelve tunes—the album ends with a double shot of classic jazz. Porter lets loose on a stirring version of Nat Adderley's "Work Song," which features strong solo spots from saxophonists Yosuke Sato and Tivon Pennicott. The album ends with a mellow, a cappella take of "God Bless The Child."

Porter presents various facets of his personality throughout the album, but the jubilant "On My Way To Harlem" best explains his artistry. In name checking the divine artistic triptych of Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, and Marvin Gaye, Porter essentially outlines his own design as a soulful jazz poet. If Water heralded the arrival of the next big name in vocal jazz, then Be Good makes it clear that Porter still has plenty to say. Be Good is beyond great and he's here to stay. ---Dan Bilawsky, allaboutjazz.com

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Gregory Porter - Nat 'King' Cole And Me (2017)

2017-11-09T12:12:59Z

Gregory Porter - Nat 'King' Cole And Me (2017)


1 	Mona Lisa 	4:19
2 	Smile 	4:18
3 	Nature Boy 	3:45
4 	L-O-V-E 	2:09
5 	Quizas,Quizas, Quizas 	4:31
6 	Miss Otis Regrets 	4:31
7 	Pick Yourself Up 	3:12
8 	When love Was King 	7:44
9 	The Lonely One 	4:34
10 	Ballerina 	2:54
11 	I Wonder Who My Daddy Is 	3:48
12 	But Beautiful 	4:33
13 	Sweet Lorraine 	3:36
14 	For All We Know 	5:33
15 	The Christmas Song 	3:46

Arranged By, Conductor, Producer – Vince Mendoza
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums – Ulysses Owens
Orchestra – The London Studio Orchestra
Piano – Christian Sands
Trumpet – Terence Blanchard (tracks: 4,15)
Vocals – Gregory Porter

On his fifth studio album, 2017's lovingly produced Nat "King" Cole & Me, singer Gregory Porter takes a purposefully traditional approach, paying tribute to one of his biggest influences, legendary vocal icon Nat King Cole. To help craft his tribute, Porter recorded the album with Grammy Award-winning arranger Vince Mendoza and the illustrious London Studio Orchestra, as well as several tracks featuring Los Angeles studio stalwarts. Also on board are Porter's longtime bandmates, pianist Christian Sands, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Ulysses Owens. While primarily known for his contemporary, genre-crossing style of jazz and R&B, Porter here leans nicely into a distinctly old-school sound. Mendoza frames the singer's warm, supple voice with shimmering orchestral arrangements that wouldn't be out of place during the golden age of '50s and early-'60s traditional pop. While never mimicking Cole's distinctive style, Porter manages to straddle the line between evincing the storied artist's burnished vocal sound, and displaying his own virtuoso talents. Tracks like the Cole songbook regulars "Nature Boy," "Mona Lisa," and "The Christmas Song" are lushly arranged renditions that envelop the listener. Also engaging are the upbeat swingers like "Ballerina" and "L-O-V-E," which features a guest solo appearance from trumpeter Terence Blanchard. There's also a cinematic quality to many of the cuts, as on "Miss Otis Regrets," in which Mendoza's dramatic, classical-tinged opening quickly settles into an intimate, candlelit reading of the melancholy classic. Porter even applies his vintage-influenced approach to a reworking of his original "When Love Was King." Romantic, sophisticated, and rich with vocal prowess, Nat "King" Cole & Me lives up to both Cole and Porter's own immense creative reputations. ---Matt Collar, AllMusic Review

„Nat King Cole & Me”, jest osobistym hołdem złożonym twórczości legendarnego wokalisty i pianisty, który obudził w małym Gregorym Porterze miłość do muzyki. „Powrót do moich korzeni był dla mnie najbardziej naturalnym ruchem. Te korzenie to moja matka, muzyka gospel i Nat King Cole” – wyjaśnia Porter.

„Nat King Cole & Me” to jego trzeci album w wytwórni Blue Note, pierwszy nagrany z pełną orkiestrą pod dyrekcją Vince’a Mendozy. Płyta została nagrana w londyńskich AIR Studios i zawiera 12 ulubionych przez Portera nagrań z repertuaru Cole’a, w tym „Smile”, „L-O-V-E” oraz „Nature Boy”. Na wydawnictwie znalazła się również inspirowana twórczością Cole’a, oryginalna kompozycja Portera – „When Love Was King”, która pierwotnie pojawiła się na obsypanym nagrodami Grammy albumie „Liquid Spirit”.

„Mój ojciec nie był obecny w moim życiu, a słowa piosenek Nata były jak życiowe lekcje, słowa mądrości i ojcowskiej rady jakiej potrzebowałem” – wyjaśnia źródła swojej inspiracji Gregory Porter. Miłość do twórczości Cole’a zaowocowała nawet pół-autobiograficznym musicalem „Nat King Cole & Me”, którego premiera odbyła się w 2004 r. „Nat King Cole był jedyny w swoim rodzaju. Pozostawił tak wspaniałą muzykę, że zwyczajnie nie można się nią nie inspirować” – podsumowuje swoją fascynację Gregory Porter. --- jazzforum.com.pl

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Gregory Porter - Take Me To The Alley (Deluxe) (2016)

2016-05-16T15:57:03Z

Gregory Porter - Take Me To The Alley (Deluxe) (2016)


1. Holding On (5:01)
2. Don’t Lose Your Steam (3:17)
3. Take Me to the Alley (5:16)
4. Day Dream (3:51)
5. Consequence of Love (3:20)
6. In Fashion (4:34)
7. More Than a Woman (3:31)
8. In Heaven (4:1
9. Insanity (5:37)
10. Don’t Be a Fool (4:31)
11. Fan the Flames (4:12)
12. French African Queen (3:44)
13. Holding On (feat. Kem) (4:16)
14. Insanity (feat. Lalah Hathaway) (5:03)
15. Don’t Lose Your Steam (Aufgang Remix) (3:26)
16. Don’t Lose Your Steam (Fred Falke Remix) (3:12)

Alto Saxophone – Yosuke Sato
Bass – Aaron James 
Drums – Emanuel Harrold
Organ – Ondrej Pivec
Piano – Chip Crawford
Producer, Voice – Gregory Porter
Tenor Saxophone – Tivon Pennicott
Trumpet – Keyon Harold
Voice – Alicia Olatuja

Gregory Porter has a warm, mellow, baritone voice with a heavy bass bottom, plush with soft brass notes that glide like liquid honey. You could take a bath in that voice and it seems a lot of people around the world are happy to do just that.

Porter is surely the most unlikely star in contemporary popular music: a stocky, middle-aged jazz singer who wears a black balaclava (to cover facial scarring) topped off with a cloth cap. His unabashedly old-fashioned style conjures up easy-on-the-ear nightclub jazz pitched somewhere between the warm croon of Nat King Cole and light swing of Moondance-era Van Morrison, with notes of gospel, blues and soul.

The Californian was 38 when he made his Blue Note debut and a grand old man of 42 when he broke out of the jazz enclave and into the mainstream with his million-selling Liquid Spirit album. Having achieved global success against the odds, he is not about to make any dramatic changes. He returns with another selection of elegantly crafted songs expressing thoughtful views on life and relationships in clear, clever lyrics set to flowing melodies.

The high standard of Porter’s songwriting is his secret weapon, ensuring he doesn’t rely on covering the classic American canon the way so many of his jazz peers do. His polished gems have the quality of standards: simple, attractive verse-chorus affairs that make touching, unambiguous points with a kind of pithy directness often associated with country music.

On the playful In Fashion, he offers sharp observations on the fickleness of celebrity affairs with language that tips towards his namesake Cole Porter: “I’m last year’s runway passion / No longer in fashion/ And I find myself obsessed / With how you dress / And whom you’ll see / When you’re without me”. Consequence of Love is a mellifluous, soulful ramble that oozes emotional sincerity, internal rhymes tripping so easily off his tongue you barely register how clever they really are.

The tinkled piano and double bass is always supportive of the voice, while gentle solos subtly fill gaps. It is all impeccable, if unadventurous, with the temperature rarely rising above tepid, although Porter does revel in pushing the tempo on a trio of tracks referencing bebop rhythms and scat singing. It is intriguing to speculate what younger audiences, introduced to Porter by dance remixes and collaborations, might make of it. Last year, he appeared with the UK dance duo Disclosure on the edgy, electro-house banger Holding On. Here, he revisits the song as a dreamy ballad, with soft double bass runs and the lightest of touches on hi-hats.

The gorgeous voice, though, sweeps away all possible objections. It may be resolutely old-fashioned and, for sure, we’ve heard it all before, but the sheer pleasure in Porter’s singing is all but impossible to resist. --- Neil McCormick, telegraph.co.uk

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Gregory Porter – Liquid Spirit (2013)

2013-10-23T15:51:23Z

Gregory Porter – Liquid Spirit (2013)


01 – No Love Dying
02 – Liquid Spirit
03 – Lonesome Lover
04 – Water Under Bridges
05 – Hey Laura
06 – Musical Genocide
07 – Wolfcry
08 – Free
09 – Brown Grass
10 – Wind Song
11 – The In Crowd
12 – Movin?
13 – When Love Was King
14 – I Fall In Love Too Easily
15 – Time Is Ticking
16 – Water Under Bridges (Rubato Version)

Personnel: 
Gregory Porter: vocals; 
Yosuke Sato: alto saxophone; 
Tivon Pennicott: tenor saxophone; 
Chip Crawford: piano; 
Aaron James: double bass; 
Emanuel Harold: drums.

Gregory Porter has a lot to live up to. Widespread critical acclaim, Grammy nominations and reviewers suggesting that he's the next big jazz star, the man to bring jazz back to mainstream popularity, all lay a big artistic burden on his (admittedly quite broad) shoulders. Liquid Spirit is his third album and it heralds a move to a major label, Blue Note. Maybe that just raises expectations even higher. No matter—Porter meets, and even exceeds, such expectations.

Porter's voice is a joy to hear: warm, engaging, capable of conveying emotion with subtlety. He's technically impressive, but he never uses technique just to impress. He's a fine songwriter as well, combining beautiful melodies with lyrics that tell stories and express feelings that seem to come straight from the singer's heart.

For Liquid Spirit Porter has retained a quintet of musicians from his second album, Be Good (Motéma, 2012). The saxophones of Yosuke Sato and Tivon Pennicott come together to excellent effect on the hard bop-come-gospel flavored title track, the soulful "Movin'" and the cheerful "Wind Song" but the album's finest moments appear when the instrumental accompaniment is pared down to just Chip Crawford's piano, Aaron James' bass and Emanuel Harrold's drums.

The sad but beautiful "Water Under Bridges" keeps things really simple: just Porter's voice and Crawford's piano. The result is a three and a half minute triumph: bluesy, heartfelt and heartbreaking. "Hey Laura" and "Brown Grass" run it a close second, both songs enlivened by Harrold's sympathetic drumming. "Wind Song" is more upbeat, a celebration. Soul classic "The 'In' Crowd" swings, Harrold and James laying down the groove, Crawford crafting a strong solo and Porter making it clear that he's in with the "In" crowd—not boasting, just telling it like it is.

There's just one small cautionary note. "When Love Was King" and Sammy Cahn and Jules Styne's "I Fall In Love Too Easily," the album's closing tracks, clock in at almost seven and eight minutes respectively, double the length of most of the songs. Despite Porter's superb vocals, the songs tend to meander and lose focus: a rather downbeat follow on from the gorgeous "Movin.'"

Intriguingly, while Porter's debut album, Water (Motéma, 2010) gained a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album his nomination for "Real Good Hands" from Be Good (Motéma, 2012) was in the Best Traditional R&B Performance category. There are performances on Liquid Spirit that could readily be considered for jazz, R&B, soul or gospel awards. Porter makes the transition between genres with apparently effortless ease—he's a singer and a songwriter at the top of his game and Liquid Spirit is an inspiration. ---Bruce Lindsay, allaboutjazz.com

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