Gregory Porter
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:41 am
We saw this band last night at the Balboa Theater in San Diego.
The crowd was a lot darker and a lot more animated than at this show, but the music is pretty representative. We saw them at the same venue last year, and at the Hollywood Bowl at the Playboy Jazz Festival. They never fail to impress.
Gregory Porter is a multi-Grammy winning jazz vocalist, who was born in Sacramento and raised in Bakersfield, where his mom was a minister. He had a full ride scholarship to play football (DE I think) at San Diego State, but blew out his shoulder, or something, and had to quit football. His mom died of cancer when he was 21, but had encouraged him to be a singer. He moved to NYC where he started singing at his brother's restaurant. He considers coming back to San Diego as somewhat of a homecoming since he lived here longer than anywhere else.
Dude is an awesome singer with a unique voice, but the band was also on fire. The sax player in particular is a standout talent. The drummer as well, who’s not at all flashy, but is technically brilliant. We had seats in the center of the third row, where you can really see and feel the interplay among the players. The drummer and sax player are really tuned into each other (as are the rest of the band). When the sax player takes off on a solo and builds up the intensity, the drummer is always right there with him. Nice thing is, they all seem to be really enjoying what they're doing.
The crowd was a lot darker and a lot more animated than at this show, but the music is pretty representative. We saw them at the same venue last year, and at the Hollywood Bowl at the Playboy Jazz Festival. They never fail to impress.
Gregory Porter is a multi-Grammy winning jazz vocalist, who was born in Sacramento and raised in Bakersfield, where his mom was a minister. He had a full ride scholarship to play football (DE I think) at San Diego State, but blew out his shoulder, or something, and had to quit football. His mom died of cancer when he was 21, but had encouraged him to be a singer. He moved to NYC where he started singing at his brother's restaurant. He considers coming back to San Diego as somewhat of a homecoming since he lived here longer than anywhere else.
Dude is an awesome singer with a unique voice, but the band was also on fire. The sax player in particular is a standout talent. The drummer as well, who’s not at all flashy, but is technically brilliant. We had seats in the center of the third row, where you can really see and feel the interplay among the players. The drummer and sax player are really tuned into each other (as are the rest of the band). When the sax player takes off on a solo and builds up the intensity, the drummer is always right there with him. Nice thing is, they all seem to be really enjoying what they're doing.
