"I had a dream of a successful music career, but the Grammy and all of the trappings that come along with that, they have been gravy."
When Gregory Porter — the hipster's jazz vocalist — hits Bluesfest 2017, he might just catch fellow headliner Nas performing with New Orleans' brass ensemble The Soul Rebels. "He's one of my favourite rappers," Porter reveals from his Californian pad.
This neo-Nat King Cole goes back with the hip hopper's father, blues musician Olu Dara. Based for years in New York, Porter gigged alongside Dara at Harlem's fabled St Nick's Pub. "Olu Dara's cool — and he's the most down-home, funky and soulful," Porter praises. "[He's] just a great musician and music personality and bluesman and comedian and a cool person to know." Dara encouraged Porter to persist with his music. "He's like, 'Porter, you know what? You've got something — you're gonna go somewhere. Don't forget this place when you get there.' So I don't forget St Nick's Pub and I don't forget the people that I met there and the energies and the messages that I learned there. I think all of those people are in my music still. He's one of those people that are in a way foundational to the beginning of my success - starting in NY." Now Porter is returning to Australia following September's sold-out club tour.
Porter grew up in a large family in Bakersfield - the Californian city synonymous with country via Merle Haggard's so-called Bakersfield Sound, but also big historically on Southern gospel. His beloved mother a minister, Porter sang in church. Yet, demonstrating that six degrees of separation theory, he casually mentions that his high school classmates included future members of the nu-metal band Korn. Porter attended San Diego State University on an athletic scholarship, studying urban planning. But, post-injury, he concentrated on music — befriending longtime mentor/producer Kamau Kenyatta.
Porter eventually relocated to the Big Apple, juggling music with work as a chef. In 2010 he debuted with Water on Motema Music, scoring a Grammy nom. However, Porter's breakthrough came when he signed to Blue Note for his third album, Liquid Spirit. It made the UK Top 10. Today, Porter is an honorary Brit — a television fave distinctive with his cap and elegant suits.
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"I had no dreams of winning a Grammy, in a way."
Porter connected with an even broader audience after the masked German DJ/producer Claptone remixed Liquid Spirit's title-track into a deep house anthem. "We have met a couple of times," he recalls. "Actually in Australia, he was there then at some gig and we ran into each other in the hotel lobby, so that was an interesting evening — and in France. We met a couple of times and talked about music. Obviously, as a DJ, his taste in music is quite wide so we talked about everything."
Liquid Spirit won a Grammy for "Best Jazz Vocal Album" - and Porter triumphed in the same category with last year's Take Me To The Alley. "It's amazing," he enthuses. "Even if you prepare something to say, you're never quite ready for them to call your name. So it's a really cool thing. I am excited about what it does to younger members of my family. They come in [to the house] and they wanna hold it and take pictures. It really causes them to think bigger and to think outside of the limited scope that they may have at the moment, and causes 'em to think outside of themselves and think that they can go higher. I mean, I had no dreams of winning a Grammy, in a way. I had a dream of a successful music career, but the Grammy and all of the trappings that come along with that, they have been gravy."
Recently, Porter contributed a big band rendition of the Pinocchio song When You Wish Upon A Star to Verve's Jazz Loves Disney compilation. "Sometimes I'll be listening to the radio and somewhere randomly in some country it'll come on — I'm like, 'Oh, wow, that's me, I like that!'" He's currently plotting a new album — "maybe an orchestra project" — for release before the year's end.
In 2015, Porter relocated to Bakersfield with his Russian emigre wife (immortalised in 2012's Our Love) and son. Here, he's close to his siblings. "Family is everything." Porter has previously discussed Bakersfield's disturbing racism — but it's home. "Right now I sit looking out the window at my garden, so everything is really quite nice and lovely. It's a place where I can really relax and unwind." Not that Porter is there much. He maintains "an intense tour schedule", fulfilling 200 shows in 2016. As such, Australian fans shouldn't miss Porter's Bluesfest run. "It's so rare that I come to Australia," he says. "I'll be glad to perform music from all of my records - focussing on Take Me To The Alley, but doing music from all my records, 'cause there's a lot of songs people haven't heard live."