Grammy winning jazz vocalist Gregory Porter set for Tbilisi show

Multiple Grammy Award-winning American singer and songwriter Gregory Porter will bring his celebrated jazz voice to Tbilisi Concert Hall next week in a show featuring Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra led by conductor Nikoloz Rachveli.

Praised for "voice [that] defies gravity” and awarded his second Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album last year, Porter will perform songs from the recent recording in Georgia’s capital.

The release, titled Nat King Cole & Me, pays homage to the famed late vocalist and pianist Nathaniel Adams Coles.

The album, arranged by six Grammy Award-winning composer Vince Mendoza, includes songs by the legendary mid-20th century singer, performed by Porter.

It has been promoted as Porter’s "highest charting success yet” and replicated the success of his 2014 release Liquid Spirit with the 2017 Grammy Award.

Porter will be on stage in Tbilisi with his quintet and joined by the Evgeni Mikeladze Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra. Georgian conductor Nikoloz Rachveli will lead the latter in the show billed for January 12.

The American singer will come back to the Georgian capital for the first time since headlining the 2016 Tbilisi Jazz Festival alongside Nicholas Payton Trio, Jamie Cullum and Candy Dulfer.

 

"I am truly privileged to receive the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award from the MOBOs. It is a great honour and I would like to thank everyone who has supported me in my career so far. Nat King Cole was my earliest musical inspiration so it seems fitting that I dedicate this award to him.” #MOBOAwards @moboawards

A post shared by Gregory Porter (@gregoryportermusic) on Nov 30, 2017 at 3:17am PST

The Sacramento-born vocalist has been hailed for "voice and musicality to be reckoned with" by BBC, while the music review website allmusic.com said the American was "up there with Jose James as the next big male vocal jazz star".

He released his debut album Water in 2010, followed by Be Good, Liquid Spirit and Take Me to the Alley before the 2017 release.

Porter was most recently presented with the MOBO Outstanding Contribution to Music Award in November at London’s Gresham Centre.