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Jazz and soul superstar Gregory Porter’s critically-acclaimed record breaking album ‘Take Me To The Alley’ has been nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album at this year’s Grammy Awards.
The awards, which take place in February next year could see a second time Grammy win for Gregory, after he scooped best jazz vocal album in 2014 for his classic record, ‘Liquid Spirit’ and received previous nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album for the Water in 2011, Best Traditional R&B Performance for ‘Real Good Hands’ in 2013 and Best Traditional R&B Performance for ‘Hey Laura’ in 2014.
It is an incredible honour to receive a Best Jazz Vocal Album nomination for a Grammy Award for my new album ’Take Me To The Alley’. The previous nominations I received for the Water, Real Good Hands and when Liquid Spirit won a Grammy in 2014, it all helped spotlight my music on the world’s stage and helped launch my career – I will always be grateful for that opportunity and it’s wonderful to be included in such great company again this year. René Marie, Branford Marsalis Quartet featuring Kurt Elling, Catherine Russell and The Tierney Sutton Band all released dope records and it is a pleasure to be considered amongst them. I would finally like to thank my band – I could not have done it without you.”
Gregory’s Grammy nomination closes another landmark year for the Jazz cat in the hat, who in the UK made chart history, when he landed two studio albums in the Official Albums Chart Top 20 simultaneously and his critically-acclaimed new album ‘Take Me To The Alley’ became the first jazz record to break into the Top 5 for over ten years.
This level of public affection has seen Porter become an adopted national treasure in the UK, having performed for the Queen multiple times, and graced the stages of the UK’s best venues and summer festivals. The singer featured as the only musical performance on BBC1’s ‘Attenborough at 90’ and led a chorus of music stars, including Mumford and Sons, in a moving version of Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ on BBC2’s ‘Later with Jools’. This year has also seen Porter complete an extensive sold-out UK Headline Tour, opening and closing at prestigious London venues The Royal Albert Hall and Hammersmith Apollo.
And after a show-stopping performance at Glastonbury last year, Gregory returned, this time on the Pyramid Stage bill along with the likes of Muse, Adele, Coldplay and Beck. He also performed at BBC’s ‘A Festival In A Day’ in London’s Hyde Park this summer, where he joined a line-up that included high profile performers including Elton John.