Jazz vocalist Gregory Porter

Episode notes

Photo: Joe Klamar / AFP via Getty Images

Jazz vocalist Gregory PorterWe revisit our conversation with Gregory Porter. He’s a Grammy Award winning jazz vocalist. The route he took to get there is really unique. He was an offensive lineman at San Diego State. Then, during his junior year, an injury ended his football career. During that time he could sing, but he didn’t feel like a singer. That changed when his mom, literally from her deathbed, told him to start singing.

Whereas most young jazz singers start their careers recording standards, Porter recorded an album of mostly originals. In 2010, he moved to New York with his brother and recorded his debut record Water.

When he joined us in 2018, he had just laid down an album with jazz standards. Nat King Cole and Me pays tribute to one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. It’s music he grew up on. Porter spent a lot of time researching the music of Nat King Cole – his records, books, and documentaries. He’ll tell us what made Cole one of the most unique singers of the civil rights era of the 1950’s. He’ll also tell us what it was like to grow up in Bakersfield, California and how that’s influenced his lyrics.

The covers are great, but if you want to hear some more of his original work, check out his 2016 album: Take Me to the Alley – the album was inspired by his mother’s teachings as a street minister and it’s one of our favorites.

Gregory Porter’s new album All Rise is out on April 17th.

In this episode...

Jesse Thorn

Host

Kevin Ferguson

Senior Producer

Jesus Ambrosio

Producer

Richard Robey

Maximum Fun Producer

Daniel Huecias

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Daniel Arón Speer

Video Editor

Guests

Gregory Porter

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

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