Gregory Porter
Roy Hargrove Quintet

Totally unknown to the general public just eight years ago, the singer Gregory Porter soon conquered the US, then Europe, from autumn 2010 with “1960 What?”, an anti-establishment song lasting over nine minutes. The album “Water” (2010) set Gregory Porter and his baritone voice on a virtual throne between Nat King Cole and Donny Hathaway. With “Liquid Spirit” (2013) and his composition “When Love Was King”, he gained irresistible public esteem. At the age of 46 (Nat King Cole’s age at his death in 1965), the Californian, now living in Brooklyn, is just as much at home with the vocalese style, gospel, the smooth blues of Jimmy Witherspoon and the velvet warmth of his childhood hero, Nat King Cole, the subject of his fifth album. With “Nat King Cole & Me” (2017), he beautifully revisits the crooner’s hits (“Nature Boy”, “Mona Lisa”), but the song he cherishes the most is perhaps “Pick Yourself Up”. The song is a summary of the influence that Nat Cole had on an anxious child named Gregory. “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start over again,” as it says in the chorus. “When I was recording it, I could feel the presence of my mother, and also the fact I have always been looking for my father”, the gentle giant explained at the time. Now he is back in Vienne with the ONL, conducted by Vince Mendoza, whose arrangements give the album breathtaking scope.

Line-up : Gregory Porter (voc), Chip Crawford (p), Jahmal Nichols (b), Emanuel Harrold (dms), Tivon Pennicott (sax), Orchestre National de Lyon

Photo : © Eric Umphery

Roy Hargrove is a legendary trumpet player from the second wave of “neo-boppers” to emerge in the late 1980s, in the wake of Wynton Marsalis (who discovered him when he was still at university). He has proved to be one of the most talented and one of the most unpredictable of the group. While producing great work alongside Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins and Diana Krall, the Texan (he was born in Waco in 1969) became an artist in his own right, producing some 20 sound manifestoes in a quintet or with his RH Factor, zigzagging from orthodox and inventive jazz to funk or the hottest Afrobeat. The artist that David “Fathead” Newman (Ray Charles’ famous tenor) always cites as an example is today going back to the basics, with a flamboyant post-hard-bop quintet featuring the saxophone of the young and brilliant Justin Robinson. The quintet is a war machine in the thrilling tradition of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. In concert, with music ranging from subtle ballads to unbridled polyphony starting out from a melody by Lee Morgan or “Pinocchio” by Wayne Shorter (the other numbers are usually written by Roy Hargrove himself), the trumpetist seems to be focused on an ensemble sound. With a simple look he suggests a change in direction, inserting silences and breaks at exactly the right moment with a sure sense of inspiration (especially on the flugelhorn), the ensemble leader, soon to be in his fifties, has already acquired the status of one of the greats.

Line-up : Roy Hargrove (tp), Justin Robinson (as, fl), Tadataka Unno (p), Ameen Saleem (b), Quincy Phillips (dr), Mr. Larry Clothier (tour-manager)

Photo : © Andrea Boccalini