GREGORY PORTER - WATER

Just six months after the release of his debut album, Water, vocalist Gregory Porter has just been nominated in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category of the 53rd Annual Grammy® Awards. Porter has received raves internationally for Water, which cracked the JazzWeek Top 10 radio chart shortly after its May release, and which has been selling briskly in the US and Europe. For the recording of Water, Porter tapped a powerful cadre of players, among them the iconic alto sax player James Spaulding (Max Roach, Freddie Hubbard, and Bobby Hutcherson, et al,) who plays a featured role on two tracks: "Wisdom" and "Black Nile." The CD was produced by saxophonist, pianist and composer Kamau Kenyatta, and features seven stellar original compositions by Porter that range in style from velvet jazz ballads to the searing soul anthem "1960 What, which has been storming radio airwaves. On this emotionally intimate debut, Porter bares his soul to reveal a performer and songwriter of unusual depth. His moving ballad, "Illusion," about the struggles one faces in relationships, releases this month as the first video single of the album. Porter's vocal prowess has earned him international recognition, prompting Wynton Marsalis, who has tapped Porter several times to perform as a guest vocalist with his Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, to go on record citing him as "a fantastic young singer," and Germany's Jazz Thing magazine to laud Porter's "deep blues-rooted voice, branching out in soul spheres." Interest in the UK is strong. Porter appeared in a two page spread in Echoes Magazine and vocalist and radio personality Jamie Cullum will feature Porter on an upcoming segment of his popular BBC-3 radio program. Porter performs live every Thursdays at Smooke in New York City and will appear this January 8th at Irridium in NYC on a triple bill with fellow Motema artists Geri Allen and Charnett Moffett.