Gregory Porter burst onto the scene five years ago when Wynton Marsalis selected the then-unknown singer to perform a residency with his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Since then, Porter’s albums Water and the Grammy-nominated Be Good plus his soulful live shows have marked him as “the brilliant new voice of jazz” (Huffington Post) — he is that rare male jazz vocalist with true star power.
A minister’s son with a deep love of Nat King Cole, Porter combines the power of a gospel shouter with the honeyed tone of a crooner. Whether singing standards or one of his own songs, he moves audiences with “a voice and musicality to be reckoned with” (BBC).