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The fact that this compilation even exists genuinely serves as an incredible testament to Gregory Porter's furious work ethic.
Since his 2011 debut on Motema Records with 'Water', wasting no time at all he swiftly followed that release the following year with 'Be Good' before transitioning over to Blue Note Records and releasing the hugely successful 'Liquid Spirit' in 2014. How he has found time in between these releases to record as many guest spots as he has is beyond me... but that's what this project is - an excellent compilation of his guest spots over the years.
The inclusion of Opolopo's boogie-infused remix to the classic and breakthrough Gregory Porter anthem '1960 What' is a wise inclusion here, as are all of his contributions to Zak Najor's funky-jazz Zbonics project ('Time To Do Your Thing') and David Murray's Infinity Quartet album, 'Be My Monster Love', from Motema Records which thankfully means that 'Army of the Faithful' is included here which is quite possibly the star of this release.
Purists be warned though - this compilation does not serve as the definitive collection for everything Porter has floating around. Unfortunately, and inexplicably, both of his contributions to The Rongetz Foundation album ('Brooklyn Butterfly Session', 2012) are not to be found here which is a shame, his duet with Dianne Reeves ('Satiated') from her album 'Beautiful Life' (2013) also deserves to be heard, plus his two appearances on Nicola Conte's 'Love and Revolution' album sadly didn't find a home here and would have been strong numbers to have included, notably 'Do You Feel Like I Feel?'.
Here's the tracklist below for a truly excellent compilation by one of the shining lights in jazz music today:
1. Great Voices of Harlem - Moanin' (Radio Edit) 2. David Murray Infinity Quartet feat. Gregory Porter - Be My Monster Love 3. Zbonics & Gregory Porter - Issues of Life 4. David Murray Infinity Quartet feat. Gregory Porter - About the Children 5. Zbonics & Gregory Porter - Just in Time 6. David Murray Infinity Quartet feat. Gregory Porter - Hope Is a Thing With Feathers 7. Zbonics & Gregory Porter - Nowhere to Run 8. Zbonics & Gregory Porter - She Danced Across the Floor (automart Remix) 9. Gregory Porter - 1960 What? (Opolopo kick and bass rerub) 10. David Murray Infinity Quartet feat. Gregory Porter - Army of the Faithful 11. Zbonics & Gregory Porter - She's Gone 12. Kentyah, M1, Brian Jackson & The New Midnight Band feat. Gregory Porter - Song of the Wind
'Dear Simone' by Jacob Banks
Kicking this feature off with a heckuva great song by Jacob Banks - this one comes from his 2013 (digital-only) release, 'The Monologue', and is a great introduction to this UK talent. There's actually a 2015 release called 'The Paradox' as well so if you're new to Jacob Banks, you'll need to act quickly before you fall too far behind. (Quick warning that as excellent as this song is, he does get a little free and easy with the F-bombs in the second half of the song so be warned if you're not too keen on that kind of thing.)
'Take Care' by Nasimiyu
I love the history of this song so let's try and run through it as briefly as possible...
In 2010, Gil Scott-Heron put out his final album entitled 'I'm New Here', and the album featured a song called "I'll Take Care of You"... The following year, Jamie xx (from the band the alt-electronic/indie band, The xx) remixed the whole album (subsequently entitled 'We're New Here') and presented a standout version of "I'll Take Care of You"... Hip-hopper Drake went on to cover the remixed version, which featured Rihanna, and called the track, "Take Care"... Drake's version went on to receive its own plaudits and has even been covered by Florence + The Machine, but in our case here and now, we're focusing on Nasimiyu's acoustic covering of the song which was uploaded to SoundCloud a month ago.
Nasimiyu (who we've featured in this segment before) actually uploaded acoustic covers of the entire album that this song comes from (guess she's a Drake fan?!) and the best thing is the fact that she's kindly included that glorious little "download" button so feel free to check the song out and if you like what you hear, grab a copy for yourself :)
'Darling' by Sherryl Bako
Here's a brand new song - again about a month old - from Sherryl Bako. She's only rocking her single at the moment and there's the hope that an EP will be ready by the end of the year. You can purchase this through her Bandcamp page and hope you will feel compelled to do so...
I thought I'd go with a somewhat random Prince post this week due to fairly random YouTube discoveries a few days ago that I felt compelled to share...
It's certainly no big revelation that compared to his expansive body of work since the 1970s, there's comparatively very little to find of Prince's music on YouTube - let's skip the fact that YouTube would probably need an entirely new server to cope with the amount it could house if everything was in fact green lit. Having said that however, there are actually quite a few nuggets of Prince material to stumble on.
I'll start with the most exciting for me firstly - it's a dream combination that I genuinely never expected to take form in any context, but in 2011, for a bunch of supremely lucky people...it really, really did when Prince was a guest for Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings...
Now, here's an excellent excerpt from a Q-Tip concert I think dating back to 2008. It was widely-reported at the time that a shocked crowd witnessed Prince walking out on to stage, taking the guitarist's guitar and just start jamming to 'Vivrant Thing'. What was even notably hilarious is that the surprise performance even took Q-Tip by surprise who was just as surprised when he turned round to see Prince as a part of his band. Apparently, Prince didn't even wait til after the show and had left the venue by the end of the concert...
Our final clip serves nothing more than to make you smile. Here's Prince's appearance's on The Muppet Show dating as far back as 1997, and riffing 'Starfish and Coffee' for the show...
Musical heroes. If you’re a fan of music, it’s pretty hard not to have at least one artist whose music you connected with the most, or if you’re an artist yourself, somebody’s music would certainly have inspired you to pick that instrument or microphone up. There have been a fair few who inspired the birth of this blog – and there are names we champion at any available opportunity – but this time, for this article, we’ve turned the playlist over to our guests…
There’s a lot I’m proud of with this site and one of those things is the incredible list of names we’ve managed to secure interviews with – just check the ‘Interviews’ button at the top of the page and peruse the amazing lineup of talent that have given us their time. Well, this article works as something of a ‘best of’ as we asked them all ‘who their dream artist to collaborate with would be’, and we’ve compiled all the responses below including audio/video clips so you can bask in the music of our heroes’ heroes. Enjoy the read!
Emma Donovan
I’m a big fan of Lisa Kekaula, lead singer from The Bellrays. I have seen her live in Melbourne at the Corner Hotel, and I am so in love with her voice and the way she performs. She is the Boss! A friend gave me her stuff last year and she inspires me, I am also a long-life fan of many India.Arie albums – I have followed her for years, and, of course, my very first soul dream vocalist, Renee Geyer.
Talking about all my favourite singers too I can’t help imagine if I ever recorded with my Nan, the queen of my heart, what it would sound like, her voice was royalty.
Jesse Fischer
Well, there are a few singers that I really would LOVE to collaborate with either in the studio or live on stage: KING (the group), Emily King, Laura Mvula, Chantae Cann, and of course Cassandra Wilson. I’d also love to get a chance to work with Etienne Charles, Lionel Loueke, Julian Lage, Zach Brock and Derrick Hodge, among many others. But most of all, I’m really happy to work with the guys in my regular touring band – they’re all amazing!
Myron & E
Well, before her passing, I wanted to work with Amy Winehouse, rest her soul. I really liked what she did musically and enjoyed listening to her songs. Others would be Raphael Saadiq, Norah Jones (her early releases) and Sheryl Crow. There's more but I'll keep it short for now...
Pitch & Scratch (Suro & Mzuzu)
SURO: I have a special connection to music coming from England... There are a few artists I would like to work together with: one of them is definitely soul singer Alice Russell. Over the years, some of her tracks have become favourite funk tunes of mine.
MZUZU: I would love to play with Fred Wesley or Wayne Henderson. I just love funky trombones. On the vocal-side I would say Robert Moore, Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones are great. Amp Fiddler would be another choice. I met him once in Hamburg, where he did a great show at the Mandarin Kasino. The same with Joe Bataan. There are many great artists out there…
Nick Pride
That’s a great question! There’s an obvious crowd of ‘big name’ vocalists who seem to guest on almost everything – and while I think those guys are really good, I’m proud that we’ve established ourselves in our own right before working with anyone super-famous! But there are so many people I’d like to collaborate with.
I would love to hear Ben Westbeech on a dirty break-beat funk track, and someone like Jamie Liddell would be an inspiration to work with, I’d be fascinated to see how he goes about making music.
I met Michael Kiwanuka on a gig in London a couple of years ago – he’s got a terrific soul voice and is starting to really break through now.
I’m a big fan of Laura Vane, Darondo, Choklate from Breakestra too. And if Mary J [Blige] rang, I would probably be cool with that too.
The Baker Brothers
I would love to hear what Quincy Jones or Questlove could do with The Baker Brothers!
Myles Sanko
I would have loved to have worked with any of the Motown Records artists or would have just been happy to sit in the studio and watch. Currently, I am a big fan of Gregory Porter and would love to do a song with him, or just share a stage for a night. Also, Vintage Trouble have something really cool going on and a number with them would be pretty cool I think.
Sy Smith
I wanna collab with Jesus! I sent Him some tracks and called him on the main line, but I guess He's busy. I'm just being silly... I've got cabin fever from this train ride. I'd love to collaborate with Prince and Trent Reznor (from Nine Inch Nails).
The Soul Immigrants
Prince! His talent is boundless and his work ethic is manically despotic! Wake me up if it becomes a reality. Actually you've given me an idea I'll send a CD to Paisley Park just as a wild punt – why the hell not? Thanks! With this dream collaborator you are asking me to dream big!
Third Coast Kings
First person that comes to mind… Lee Fields! The man is still doing it right, and we love it!
Kat Webb
There was a time when I felt like the highest musical achievement would be to be Jill Scott's backup singer. She is just that amazing. I would love to work with her, even if I'm sure I'd be super intimidated. I also really enjoy Erykah Badu, because of her strong jazz roots. She is a bit darker and has more of a psychedelic edge than I do, but I admire her for her incredible lyrics and she is clearly so comfortable in herself that it's hard not to be in awe.
Hannah Williams
Any of my previously mentioned influences [Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Etta James, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Jill Scott, Minnie Riperton and Aretha Franklin] … AND SOME!!!
Again, there are too many to mention. Many of them would be coming back from the grave too.
I would love to sing with Sharon [Jones]. Wow! That would be quite something!
I would also be really interested to sing with Adele. I love her voice and what she’s done for the UK music scene.
