Take Me to the Alley (Blue Note)
Gregory Porter
Released May 2016
Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album 2017
Jazzweek No1 Year End Jazz Chart 2016
2016 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll Top 5 Best Vocal Album
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nd6uQ15e-3a5tSNhiNdlKrwHsYe9UaksE
Spotify:
About:
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 Take Me to the Alley, the much-anticipated follow-up to his sensational 2013 Blue Note debut Liquid Spirit. Yet in his remarkable career, Porter has time and again demonstrated an innate ability to transcend genre and connect with audiences from all walks of life, and his new music reflects the singer’s continued and mindful growth as an artist and as a person amidst the constant touring demands that have resulted from tremendous international success. Recently Porter moved his family from Brooklyn back to his hometown of Bakersfield, California, where he can be closer to his brothers and sisters. “The intensity of the road has caused a desire for me to be grounded,” Porter explains.
Liquid Spirit – which followed the critically-acclaimed and GRAMMY-nominated albums Water(2010) and Be Good (2012) – 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 has sold Platinum in the U.K. and Germany, and Gold in France, The Netherlands, and Austria. In the U.S. Porter made his first-ever national TV appearances on The Tonight Showand Jimmy Kimmel Live while both ESQUIRE and NPR Music 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.”
In the Fall of 2015 Porter finally found the time to return to the studio in New York City to record Take Me To The Alley. As he’s done on his previous three albums, Porter teamed with producer Kamau Kenyatta to craft a collection of stirring originals that juxtapose the personal and political. His partnership with Kenyatta started in the mid-1990s when he was a student at San Diego State University (Porter began his college years playing football on a full athletic scholarship before a shoulder injury diverted him into a music career). It was through Kenyatta’s mentorship that Porter’s professional musical career began. “Kamau has been most instrumental in taking what I have and refining it,” Porter observes. “He’s been great at offering encouragement to what I already have artistically.”
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.
Take Me to the Alley opens with the anthemic “Holding On,” a song Porter co-wrote and recorded with the U.K. electronica act Disclosure that was the lead single of their 2015 album Caracal. That version boasted a decidedly EDM vibe that extended Porter’s ongoing affiliation with DJ culture (see also the thumping “Liquid Spirit (Claptone Remix)” which reached #1 on the Ibiza Shazam charts this past summer). The new makeover replaces the skittering beats and booming bass with a more spacious arrangement, marked by Crawford’s plaintive piano accompaniment, James’ elusive bass lines, and Harrold’s succinct muted-trumpet solo.
Brimming with lyrics about the “irrepressible force of love,” the decidedly dressed-down version unveils the command of Porter’s songwriting gifts. “I decided to do the song the way that I would have recorded it on my record,” Porter says. “It’s a way of saying that a song is a song is a song. The lyrics and the intention of the song come through no matter what kind of bells and whistles are going on.”
The album continues with the bluesy “Don’t Lose Your Steam,” one of two songs that Porter wrote with his three-year-old son Demyan in mind. Propelled by a stomping, organ-enhanced groove, Porter belts out encouraging lyrics about staying committed to one’s goals regardless of hardship. The other tune Porter wrote for Demyan is “Day Dream,” which features a lithe, piano-driven beat and a breezy tenor saxophone solo as accompaniment to fanciful lyrics in which Porter observes Demyan’s vivid imagination as he plays.
Inspiration from other family members comes with “More Than a Woman” and “In Heaven.” The incredible love, guidance and encouragement of his late mother, Ruth Porter informs much of the sanguine ballad “More Than a Woman,” while the latter (written by Porter’s cousin, Darlene Andrews) is an optimistic, family song the Porters often sing when bidding farewell to a departed family member.
Socio-political commentary remains an integral role in Porter’s artistry as on earlier songs such as “1960 What?” and “Musical Genocide.” Take Me to the Alley contains several, including the stunning title-track, which showcases Olatuja’s caressing background vocals. Motivated in part by his mother, who often gave food and shelter to the less fortunate, and written in New York during Pope Francis’ visit to the Big Apple, “Take Me to the Alley” soothes the soul as Porter sings of redirecting the collective energy we often give to royalty to the downtrodden. On the strident, hard-bop excursion “Fan the Flames” Porter calls for vigorous, nonviolent protest amidst a flurry of injustices.
While admittedly cheeky, the flirtatious “French African Queen” slyly addresses socio-political issues within the Pan-African Diaspora. Underneath a vivacious, Nigerian-laden jazz groove, Porter serenades a beautiful French African lady: “What I’m saying to her is we come from the same tree,” Porter explains. “My dream is to bring her gifts and my music. And I don’t want her to deny me of that dream.”
Romantic affairs of the heart are another constant in Porter’s songs, and Take Me to the Alleyhas several new standout songs in that vein including the simmering “Consequence of Love,” a mid-tempo ballad that deals with the power and irrationality of love. “Love is ruled by itself. But sometimes we get in the way of love through governmental policies, race-relations, distance, and adolescent thinking. Anytime two people love each other, let it be,” Porter says.
The sardonic “In Fashion” picks up some the thematic tones from Porter’s 2010 song, “Bling Bling.” Basically a whimsical kiss-off song, powered by piano and drums, Porter sings of the dangers of being both self-absorbed and being obsessed with such a person. Porter gives both sage words of advice about being a roaming lover and confessions to his own romantic shortcomings on the smoldering ballad “Don’t Be a Fool,” which once again showcases Olatuja’s sparkling vocals and Pivec’s simpatico organ accompaniment.
On the somber ballad, “Insanity,” Porter pleads to a lover to remain committed to the relationship amid romantic dissonance. “Sometimes, the person that you need to lean on during periods of sorrow is the person that you’re the angriest at,” Porter keenly observes.
As Porter polishes his artistry as one of our most heartfelt singer-songwriters on Take Me to the Alley, his burgeoning body of work will continue to give voice to its modern times while simultaneously echoing the legacy of jazz and soul’s yesteryear and informing generations of musicians to come.
Track Listing:
1. Holding On (Guy William Lawrence / Howard Lawrence / James John Napier / Gregory Porter) 5:02
2. Don’t Lose Your Steam (Gregory Porter) 3:17
3. Take Me to the Alley (Gregory Porter) 5:16
4. Day Dream (Craig Dawson / Gregory Porter) 3:51
5. Consequence of Love (Gregory Porter) 3:20
6. In Fashion (Gregory Porter) 4:34
7. More Than a Woman (Gregory Porter) 3:31
8. In Heaven (Darlene Andrews) 4:18
9. Insanity (Gregory Porter) 5:37
10. Don’t Be a Fool (Gregory Porter) 4:31
11. Fan the Flames (Gregory Porter) 4:12
12. French African Queen (Gregory Porter) 3:45
Personnel:
Gregory Porter: vocals
Alicia Olatuja: vocals
Chip Crawford: piano
Aaron James: bass
Emanuel Harrold: drums
Keyon Harrold: trumpet
Yosuke Sato: alto saxophone
Tivon Pennicott: tenor saxophone
Ondrej Pivec: organ
Recorded September 28 – October 1, 2015, at Sear Sound, New York, NY, by Jay Newland
Recorded October 26 & 27, 2015, at Capitol Studio B, Hollywood, CA, by Charlie Paakkari
Produced by Gregory Porter and Kamau Kenyatta
Mixed by Jay Newland
Design: Rebecca Meek
Photography: Shawn Peters
Review:
The ineffable charms of Gregory Porter can’t help but woo and win over the ear. He’s the epitome of soulful sophistication—part tender poet, part cogent preacher, fully a man of the people—and he has a voice that can make the angels weep. While we often bemoan the choices that fame’s fickle index finger makes, it pointed in the correct direction this time. Gregory Porter is everything he’s cracked up to be and more.
Take Me To The Alley, Porter’s follow-up to the Grammy-winning Liquid Spirit (Blue Note, 2013) and his fourth album in total, is a passion-fueled collection of music filled with inspired heart-on-sleeve meditations, from-the-mountain-top sermons, glimpses at what could’ve been, and musical testimonials. It’s completely in keeping with his previous work—full of emotional highs and lows, built on a blend of the earthy and cosmopolitan—and just as addictive. It only takes one listen to get hooked.
Each one of Porter’s earlier albums produced a number of earworms and emotional wallops. Water (Motéma Music, 2010) gave us politically-charged fire and brimstone in the form of “1960 What?” and introspective gold in the shape of the title track; Be Good (Motéma Music, 2012) had more than its fair share of winners, from the enthusiastic, history-tracing “On My Way To Harlem” to the familial reassurances of “Real Good Hands”; and Liquid Spirit boasted a seemingly endless array of treasures—the fragile-turned-resolute “No Love Dying,” the exhilarating “Liquid Spirit,” the love-stricken “Water Under Bridges,” and so on and so on. Take Me To The Alley, likewise, traffics in the eminently lyrical and memorable.
Three of this album’s choicest cuts come right at the top of the program. The opener—”Holding On”—finds Porter sorting out his feelings in an understated setting that’s enriched by Keyon Harrold’s muted trumpet. It’s worlds away from the dance-friendly version of the song that he recorded with British electronic duo Disclosure. Second up is the swoon-inducing “Don’t Lose Your Steam,” a Stevie Wonder-worthy original with R&B, soul, funk, and rock in its DNA. Porter testifies and brings the thunder, the horns riff, the rhythm section locks in the groove, and organist Ondrej Pivec adds the glissandos and the grease. And then comes the title track, a sedate presentation that finds Porter harmonizing with Alicia Olatuja and exploring the topics of healing and spiritual renewal.
Those three numbers, near-perfect as they are, make the album a bit top-heavy. But there are more gems to be found further on. “In Fashion,” an irresistible number underscored by Chip Crawford’s marcato quarter note chords and focused on a man’s paranoia and obsession surrounding the dressings-up and goings-on of a woman, is one; the gospel-inflected, love-concerned “Don’t Be A Fool” is another. Those looking for an explanation behind the meteoric rise and continually growing popularity of Gregory Porter need look no further. The explanation is right here in that voice and the songs it sings.
Dan Bilawsky (All About Jazz)
