I like jazz, particularly vocal jazz, but don't often get the chance to see it live. When Gregory Porter came to The Miller Center for the Arts in Reading, PA, reasonably close to where I live, some friends and I got together and decided to go see him live.
Gregory Porter has a fantastic, smooth voice, perfect for singing jazz music, and performs with a very large instrumental group so seeing him in concert is almost like seeing a symphony orchestra perform. His music is soulful, yet sedate, harmonic and relaxing.
He has, of course, the traditional jazz instrumentation like the piano, brass instruments and saxophone, but his addition of other instruments like flutes, guitars, violins and a variety of percussion give his music a fuller, more complex sound and at least for me, the vocals help to keep me engaged and punctuate the music so I notice the subtle differences in each verse, the voices of the different instruments rising up at different times throughout the song, all creating a wonderful performance well worth your time in going in person.
I would gladly take the opportunity to see Gregory Porter again in concert, and he is well deserving of the Grammy he won for best jazz vocal album.
Billy Childish
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