Why Gregory is tipping his hat in tribute to King Nat
Jazz singer Gregory Porter admits he wouldn’t be making music today if it hadn’t been for Nat King Cole. Porter wasn’t born until seven years after Cole’s death in 1965, but the crooner’s legacy left a lasting impression on him.
Porter only gained the confidence to start composing his own songs after writing a stage musical about his idol in 2004 — ‘before that, I’d write poems but they had no music’ — and there are lingering traces of Cole’s soft baritone in Gregory’s easy-on-the-ear delivery.
Now the Sacramento- born singer, who endeared himself to British fans as ‘the man in the hat’ after appearances on Strictly Come Dancing and on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, is taking things a stage further with another lavish tribute.
Songs such as Mona Lisa and Nature Boy were popularised by Cole before they became standards, and Porter treats them with huge — sometimes too much — respect: his velvety phrasing often sticks a little too dutifully to the creamy contours of his master’s voice.
‘Nat’s music filled a void in me when I was five or six years old,’ says Porter. ‘My father wasn’t in my life, and Nat’s words provided the life lessons and fatherly advice that I needed.’
The new album was made in London with a 70-piece orchestra under the baton of conductor Vince Mendoza, and this is the first time that Porter has recorded in such a way.
and, while the lush strings have an elegant poise, it would also have been interesting to hear him attempt some tunes with the more nimble, jazz trio accompaniment preferred by Cole in his younger years.
The best moments arrive late on. a new, Nat-inspired arrangement of Porter’s own When Love Was King is so fully realised it sounds like a swing-era standard.
and, given Porter’s lack of a meaningful relationship with his father, there’s a real poignancy to the
piano-jazz number I Wonder Who My Daddy Is. Norah JoNes went back to her piano-playing roots with last year’s Day Breaks, a record inspired by the 75th anniversary of the jazz label Blue Note — home to both Jones and Porter. rejuvenated by this return to her early influences, she has now expanded the album, adding nine numbers recorded live at the Loreto Theater, New York. accompanied by a languid instrumental trio and two soulful female backing singers, she’s in her element on the new recordings. she revisits Burn and Flipside, both on last year’s release, with inventive improvisation. she also goes back to Come away With Me, her ‘moody little record’ from 2002, to revamp Don’t Know Why and I’ve Got To see You again with superb piano work.