Gregory Porter at The Lowry Manchester Review
Gregory Porter
The Lowry, Manchester
Reviewed by Ann Durrell
On Saturday 6th December we visited The Lowry in Salford Quays, Manchester to see the ‘new King of Jazz’ Gregory Porter – if you have seen the new Marks & Spencer Christmas advert you will have heard his voice on the song Fly Me To the Moon.
The support act on the night was Cecilia Stalin, a Swedish Jazz singer who was accompanied on the piano by Ross. Cecilia performed a selection of songs of her own composition and whilst her voice is good, there was too much skat in her performance. She tried her best to interact with the crowd and there was some call and response but it didn’t quite work for me.
After a 20 minute interval it was time for the man himself to come to the stage. Gregory Porter is the epitome of cool, looking dapper in a three piece suit and his trademark flat cap. His voice simply put is knockout. I had a smile on my face all the way through his set and several times had goose bumps! The opening song was ‘On My Way to Harlem’ and as soon as he opened his mouth the whole audience were glued to the stage. It is not just the power of his voice that kept everyone transfixed but he really knows how to use it and the microphone. Highlights for me were ‘Hey Laura’, ‘No Love Dying’ during which he encouraged the audience to join in, during ‘Liquid Spirit’ we were clapping along and ‘1960 What’.
On stage also were his band, comprising of bassist Aaron James, drummer Emanuel Harrold, saxophonist Yosuke Sato and pianist Chip Crawford. Yosuke in particular stood out for me, his solos left you in awe I have not seen anyone so good live before. Also Chip Crawford, there was a comedic moment before wolf cry where he played snippets of songs including ‘Peter and the Wolf’ which had the crowd giggling.
Throughout the night the whole crowd were toe tapping and by the end of the concert just about everyone in the auditorium was up in their seats. I would love to see him in a smaller venue where the crown were a little bit livelier as the more up-tempo songs should be boogied too!
If you like Jazz, Soul or R&B and have not heard any of Gregory Porter’s music I would strongly recommend you get his album or go to see him.
Rating: 5/5 
For more information and tour dates visit www.gregoryporter.com.
The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford Quays, Manchester, M50 3AZ | 0843 208 6000
