Liquid Spirit Gregory Porter Artist

After two solid albums on {|Motema|}, both of which earned Grammy nominations, singer and songwriter {|Gregory Porter|} makes his {|Blue Note|} debut with {|Liquid Spirit|}. A singer whose quicksilver vocal style refuses to be caged by either jazz, g... Read more

After two solid albums on {|Motema|}, both of which earned Grammy nominations, singer and songwriter {|Gregory Porter|} makes his {|Blue Note|} debut with {|Liquid Spirit|}. A singer whose quicksilver vocal style refuses to be caged by either jazz, gospel, or R&B, his warm, inviting baritone utilizes them all when he wishes to. Using the musicians who appeared with him on 2012's {|Be Good|} -- {|Yosuke Sato|} and {|Tivon Pennicott|}, saxophones; {|Chip Crawford|}, piano; {|Aaron James|}, bass, {|Emanuel Harrold|}, drums -- {|Porter|} wrote or co-wrote 11 of these 14 songs. There is a dynamite reading of {|Billy Page|}'s hard-grooving The In Crowd that highlights {|Porter|}'s rhythmic phrasing. Though it's a soul tune at heart, he swings hard. The cover of {|Max Roach|}'s and {|Abbey Lincoln|}'s Lonesome Lover evokes the soulful post-bop spirit of the original and offers a bracing portrait of the singer's command of his own upper range. Covers aside, the real strength of {|Liquid Spirit|} lies in {|Porter|}'s songs: his lyrics and melodies are as rich as his voice. Opener No Love Dying Here walks a line between jazz and soul; its life-affirming words are underscored by the effortless conviction and authority in his vocal, while {|Sato|}'s alto saxophone solo affirms the lyric. The fingerpopping, handclapping gospel groove in the title track is punched up by saxophones and {|Curtis Taylor|}'s trumpet. The call-and-response between {|Porter|} and {|James|}' bass is tasty, and one can hear a trace of {|Donny Hathaway|} in the singer's commanding, heartfelt delivery. Hey Laura is characterized by {|Porter|}'s relaxed but utterly sincere delivery, and packs a knock-out emotional punch in his protagonist's plea to the object of his affection. Brown Grass is a close second in the emotional punch department; it's a love song to be sure, but a sadder one. {|Porter|} articulates his protagonist's regrets simply and honestly, and therefore resonantly. For all of his innovative ability to effortlessly combine, shift, and shape various musical genres in his own image, {|Porter|} is militantly old school -- check Musical Genocide, as he celebrates the music of the past with a popping piano, hard-grooving horns, funky Rhodes, and swelling B-3. On the tender ballad Wolfcry, he is accompanied only by {|Crawford|}; it's so hip and melodically rich, it could easily have been sung by a young {|Nat Cole|}. The way he and his band move through blues, jazz, gospel, and R&B -- simultaneously -- on the declamatory testimonial Free is breathtaking. The intro to Movin', near set's end, suggests {|Bill Withers|}, but {|Porter|} quickly shifts it into higher gear with the horns punctuating the ends of his sung lines. While his first two recordings revealed a major new talent with their promise, {|Liquid Spirit|} is a giant step forward artistically, and for the listener, an exercise in musical inspiration. ~ Thom Jurek Less