Gregory Porter‘s performance at the Arts Centres Hamer Hall last Friday night once again demonstrated that he is such a consummate musician.
Porter has performed in Melbourne a number of times now so I wasn’t expecting to feel a sense of ‘wow’ this time round, despite the screams from some fans that greeted his appearance on stage.
But there was still a sense of vitality and artistry to his performance for the Melbourne International jazz festival at the Arts Centre’s Hamer Hall that is the hallmark of a great artist.
From the moment he sang the first note, that deep mellifluous baritone voice of his drew the listener in.
He opened with ‘Painted On Canvas’ that has the lyric line “we are like children” — making it feel like a new reading of it, with his distinctive phrasing and thrilling high note reach. His band’s saxophonist Tivon Pennicott sketched the contour of the song with an incendiary solo before Porter brought the mood down with a low note finish.
Porter prefaced his composition ‘On My Way To Harlem‘ by explaining how musicians used to hang out in a Harlem pub called St Nick’s. He held on to the end of words and dived into a guttural sound to emphasise the story he was telling. He then sailed over the band’s playing with wordless vocals.
Pennicott riffed on different rhythmic ideas while there were colourful melodic explorations from the band’s pianist Chip Crawford, and a searing bluesy overlay from the band’s organist Ondrej Pivec. Porter’s singing weaved in references to Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On‘, before he finished off in imitation of the voice of a station announcer with “Next Stop the 125 to Harlem.”
Porter’s show was a sell-out and even the seats above the sides of the stages were taken. He moved on to ‘Take me to the alley‘, with notes leaned on for dramatic effect and a wailing-like approach, as he fleshed out the melody. He teased the audiences by saying he sensed a spirit in the air. That was the cue for the band to play his gospel-tinged ‘Liquid Spirit‘, into which he wove ‘Wade In The Water‘. He injected excitement into it, with deep dives into guttural vocals, and spirited near-shouting aided by well-placed drumrolls.
He had the audience enthusiastically clapping along and joining in a low humming refrain. The infectious piece also had foot-tapping appeal.
Porter also performed ‘Hey Laura‘ and ‘Concorde‘. Next followed one of the concert’s highlights, an extensive and excursive bass solo by Porter’s long time bassist Jamal Nichols.
He laid down a groove and played different patterns at different parts of his instrument. He contrasted riffs played at the upper reaches of the bass with phrases played lower down. At times, he summoned a deep growling sound. Nichols finally set a sombre mood for Porter to come in with a low hum, before his vocal declaration: “I do not agree, this is not for me, no I’m talking musical genocide.”
Porter was actually reprising his 2013 song ‘Musical Genocide‘, a lament for what he described as the death of blues and soul, but it felt like a chilling and powerful metaphor about what is happening in Gaza.
Nichols sounded burnished slow notes, punctuated by fast runs over the instrument to accompany Porter’s vocals. Porter segued smoothly into a section of the Temptations‘ ‘My Girl’ with the band’s drummer Emanuel Harrold joining in with powerhouse drumming. Porter returned to his message singing with passion: “I do not agree, it is not for me… I will not commit, I will not submit.”
He kept on adding lines like he was ad-libbing, singing “it is wrong” and “there is no music in genocide”. Emphasis came from his voice taking on guttural inflections.
A change of pace came when Crawford delivered an imaginative and even humorous take on ‘Waltzing Matilda’. The segment was finished with Porter saying: “let there be peace on earth.” With artistic flair, he then referenced Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’, skilfully grafting on a lyric line from ‘Nature Boy’.
Porter’s last number was ‘Wolfcry‘. The enthusiastic crowd called him back for two encores. Part of Porter’s enduring appeal is his other skills as a composer and bandleader. Although he performed songs he has recorded, he breathed new life into them, while the music accompanied was well arranged.
