One of my co-workers just stopped by my desk and told me I had to check out the music of a new jazz artist he heard over the weekend. Since his taste in music is similar to mine, I gladly took the headsets he held out to me to take a listen. Needless to say, I was blown away! This is the kind of music I crave; thinking music, loving music, driving music, chilling music . . . For me the sound was very nostalgic and reminded me of a mix between Nat King Cole, Michael Henderson and Donny Hathaway, NO Joke!
The artist is Gregory Porter and I’m in love with his smooth, soulful and jazzy sound. I immediately looked him up and found out he was a recent Grammy nominee (not a surprise!) Take a listen and let me know what you think.
Be Good
Born in LA and raised in Bakersfield, Porter now lives in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area in Brooklyn. Upcoming festivals he is scheduled to perform include the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival in Rockville, Maryland on Feb 15, elb Jazz Festival in Hamburg, the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland (I have ALWAYS wanted to be there for that!) and the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta.
On My Way To Harlem,” is another stand out track from Grammy®-nominated vocalist Gregory Porter’s album, Be Good, and was selected as the Pick of the Week on the Starbucks Digital Network for the week beginning March 27, 2012
1960 What!
For those of you living in the Washington DC, Metropolitan area, jazz vocalist extraordinaire Gregory Porter will perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts official opening of its renovated ‘Theatre Lab’ on November 12 at 6pm. It will be an interesting evening of poetry and music curated by actress, director, playwright and Artistic Director of DC Hip-Hop Theatre, Kamilah Forbes. Porter’s music will blend with poetry by pioneering female poets; Holly Bass, Mahogany Browne, Vanessa Hidary, and Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai. The performance will be streamed live on the Center’s website and archived for future viewing.