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Rating: Excellent |
After two solid albums on Motema, both of which earned Grammy nominations, singer and songwriter Gregory Porter makes his Blue Note debut with Liquid Spirit. A singer whose lively vocal style refuses to be confined by jazz, gospel, or R&B, his warm, inviting baritone utilizes them all whenever he pleases. Along with the musicians who performed with him on 2012's Be Good—Yosuke Sato and Tivon Pennicott, saxophones; Chip Crawford, piano; Aaron James, bass; Emanuel Harrold, drums—Porter wrote or co-wrote 11 of these 14 songs.
There's a dynamic reading of Billy Page's hard-grooving "The In Crowd" that highlights Porter's rhythmic phrasing. While it's a soul song at its core, he rocks it hard. The cover of Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln's "Lonesome Lover" evokes the soulful post-bop spirit of the original and offers a refreshing portrait of the singer's mastery of his own upper range.
Covers aside, Liquid Spirit's true strength lies in Porter's songs: his lyrics and melodies are as rich as his voice. Opener “No Love Dying Here” walks a fine line between jazz and soul; the life-affirming words are underscored by the effortless conviction and authority of his vocals, while Sato's alto saxophone solo confirms the lyrics. The dexterous, hand-tapping gospel groove of the title track is amplified by saxophones and Curtis Taylor's trumpet. The call-and-response between Porter and James' bass is delicious, and you can hear a trace of Donny Hathaway in the singer's commanding, heartfelt delivery. “Hey Laura” is characterized by Porter's relaxed yet utterly sincere singing, and its protagonist's plea to the object of his affection packs a knockout emotional punch. “Brown Grass” is a close second in the emotional punch department; it's a love song, to be sure, but a sadder one. Porter expresses his protagonist's regret simply and honestly, and therefore resonates.
Despite his innovative ability to effortlessly combine, shift, and manipulate different musical genres, Porter is militantly old school—check out “Musical Genocide,” where he celebrates the music of the past with a slam-bang piano, hard-grooving horns, funky Rhodes, and a swelling B-3. On the tender ballad “Wolfcry,” he’s accompanied only by Crawford; it’s so hip and melodically rich it could easily have been sung by a young Nat Cole. The way he and his band move through blues, jazz, gospel, and R&B—simultaneously—on the declamatory testimony “Free” is breathtaking. The set-ending intro to “Movin'” evokes Bill Withers, but Porter quickly shifts gears with the horns punctuating the endings of his sung lines. While his first two recordings revealed the promise of a great new talent, Liquid Spirit is a huge step forward artistically, and for the listener, an exercise in musical inspiration.
= Full Album Play List =
= Track List =
