Gregory Porter - Take Me To The Alley

Gregory Porter returns with Take Me To The Alley

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 the May 6 release of Take Me to the Alley, the much-anticipated follow-up to his million-selling Grammy-winning 2013 Blue Note debut Liquid Spirit.

The lead single "Holding On" finds Porter presenting his decidedly different version of the Disclosure single that he was the featured vocalist on and co-wrote for their album Caracal. "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 rousing, bluesy stomp "Don't Lose Your Steam" is dedicated to Porter's three-year-old son with encouraging lyrics about staying committed one's goals regardless of hardship.

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.

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 more than 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.”