May 6, 2016
An artist whose music is at once timeless yet utterly of its time, Gregory Porter solidifies his standing as his generation’s most soulful jazz singer-songwriter with today’s release of Take Me to the Alley, the much-anticipated follow-up to his million-selling Grammy-winning 2013 Blue Note debut Liquid Spirit. Take Me To The Alley is available now at iTunes, Amazon, and the Gregory Porter Store. Watch Porter perform the affecting ballad “Take Me To The Alley” live at Capitol Studios.
Porter has been announced as part of the line-up at the 15th annual Austin City Limits Music Festival which takes place September 30-October 2 and October 7-9, as well as festivals in Atlanta, Ann Arbor, Aspen, Toronto, Montreal, Newport and more. Porter plays a concert his college town of San Diego tomorrow, and a feature in the San Diego Union-Tribune tells the story of how a career-ending football injury at San Diego State University diverted Porter into a life in music. Porter will be performing in Nashville, Washington DC, Chicago, Portland, Seattle and Oakland next month. An exclusive ticket/album bundle is available for select U.S. dates. For a list of Porter’s worldwide tour dates visit www.gregoryporter.com/live.
Featuring the singles “Holding On” and “Don’t Lose Your Steam,” the album was premiered by NPR Music who wrote that “Take Me To The Alley is driven by his working band of many years and the producer with whom he’s worked since the 1990s. This is good, for that crew has developed a winning and popular formula, a pleasing summation of groove traditions where Porter’s voice can overpower, manhandle, envelop and soothe, all at once… If forced, you’d call it pop-jazz, except it’s the rare kind, with a simplicity unblemished by artistic compromise.”
MORE CRITICS RAVE:
“Again Porter delivers passion and craft in abundance, owing to the songwriting, the acoustic-jazz arrangements, and his corduroy-warm baritone, pliant and powerful.”—Boston Globe
“On Take Me to the Alley, Porter actually turns inward, focusing on the musical values and the subject matter closest to him… There are songs addressed to his young son, including ‘Don’t Lose Your Steam’ and ‘Day Dream,’ about a boy using broomsticks as magic cars. There’s the deeply felt title track, which seems to have been inspired by Porter’s mother, a minister who moved him and his seven siblings as kids to a tough neighborhood in Bakersfield. And there are vividly imagined love songs, like some of those on Liquid Spirit, with lyrics that put you right inside Porter’s head… Porter’s resting state is a compelling one. He could stay here for a while.”—Los Angeles Times
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Liquid Spirit – which followed Porter’s critically-acclaimed and GRAMMY-nominated albums Water (2010) and Be Good (2012) – was released in the Fall of 2013 and quickly grew into a global phenomenon, selling a million albums worldwide and becoming the most streamed jazz album of all-time with over 20 million streams. The album sold Platinum in the U.K. and Germany, and in the U.S. Porter made his first-ever national TV appearances on The Tonight Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live while ESQUIRE and NPR Music both declared him “America’s Next Great Jazz Singer.” Liquid Spirit also won Porter his first GRAMMY Award in 2014 for Best Jazz Vocal Album while also earning him a Best Traditional R&B Performance nomination for his affecting ballad “Hey Laura.”
As he’s done on his previous three albums, Porter teamed with producer Kamau Kenyatta on Take Me To The Alley to craft a collection of stirring originals that juxtapose the personal and political. Reinforcing their well-honed rapport is the return of Porter’s core accompanying musicians – pianist and music director Chip Crawford, bassist Aaron James, drummer Emanuel Harrold, alto saxophonist Yosuke Sato, and tenor saxophonist Tivon Pennicott. Singer Alicia Olatuja, trumpeter Keyon Harrold, and organist Ondrej Pivec also make appearances throughout.
GREGORY PORTER – NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
May 7 – Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Symphony Hall – San Diego, CA
May 29 – Atlanta Jazz Festival – Atlanta, GA
June 4 – Polk Theater – Nashville, TN
June 5 – Knight Theater – Charlotte, NC
June 6 – Howard Theater – Washington DC
June 9 – Mayo Performing Arts Center – Morristown, NJ
June 10 – Symphony Center – Chicago, IL
June 12 – Chautauqua Auditorium – Boulder, CO
June 14 – Rialto Theater – Tucson, AZ
June 16 – Revolution Hall – Portland, OR
June 17 – Moore Theater – Seattle, WA
June 18 – Fox Theater – Oakland, CA
June 19 – Harris Center for the Arts – Folsom, CA
June 22 – Ann Arbor Summer Festival – Ann Arbor, MI
June 23 – Jazz Aspen Snowmass – Aspen, CO
June 28 – Toronto Jazz Festival – Toronto, ON
June 29 – Montreal Jazz Festival – Montreal, QC
June 30 – Edmonton International Jazz Festival – Edmonton, AB
July 2 – Vogue Theatre – Vancouver, BC
July 3 – Victoria International JazzFest – Victoria, BC
July 29-30 – Newport Jazz Festival – Newport, RI
August 6 – Summer Spirit Festival @ Merriweather Post Pavilion – Columbia, MD
August 13 – Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center – Westhampton Beach, NY
August 14 – Jazz on the Vineyard – Edgartown, MA
September 3 – John Coltrane International Jazz & Blues Festival – High Point, NC
September 30-October 2 – Austin City Limits Music Festival – Austin, TX
October 6 – Orpheum Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
October 7 – Granada Theatre – Santa Barbara, CA
October 7-9 – Austin City Limits Music Festival – Austin, TX
October 25-November 1 – Blue Note Jazz at Sea Cruise – Transatlantic Crossing
