by Gregory Porter
Jazz singer Gregory Porter has precious few prominent male contemporaries to be compared to stylistically. His rich, unadorned and thoroughly heartfelt sounds are so inviting you might as well not bother likening it to anything. The compositions on Liquid Spirit, his third album (and first for Blue Note) lean heavily towards strong, solid jazz backbeats, and gospel-tinged horn riffs. It's an appropriate album title, as his impossibly mellifluous vocal tone powers above a rhythm section that delivers groove flavours redolent of hard bop, blues, gospel and jazz. In the few ballads peppered throughout the proceedings, I was struck by Porter's total commitment to the intent of the lyrics. Some quite clever mixed metaphors and wordplay make the original songs very memorable ('Water under bridges that have already burned' and reference to the 'Brown Grass on the other side)', and you'll probably be singing along by the end of the first listen. One standard, 'I Fall In Love Too Easily', delivered sumptuously and unpretentiously is the album closer. For lovers of...well, love. And brilliant musicianship.
Adam Rudegeair - Black Wax ( Mondays 11am–1pm)
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