Gregory Porter Wins 1st Grammy Award; Will Perform at The Cabaret, 4/1

Gregory Porter has won his first Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album Liquid Spirit. Porter's award was announced at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards held on Sunday, January 26, 2014 in Los Angeles.

Gregory Porter, who has been deemed as a disarmingly sincere jazz and R& B performer with a groove that never quits, possesses a voice of incredible virtuosity and a seemingly universal appeal as a songwriter. Porter will perform at The Cabaret at Theater Square on Tuesday, April 1, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. Ticket cost $30.75. For information, visit TrustArts.org, call (412) 456-6666, or in person at Theater Square Box Office, located at 655 Penn Avenue. This event is part of the BNY Mellon | Jazz, JazzLive Cabaret Sessions 2014.

Enjoy food & drinks before the show, right at your table! Your ticket is your reservation - simply arrive early (60-90 minutes before curtain) for the most attentive lunch or dinner service. For more information, visit CLOCabaret.com and select "Experience the CLO Cabaret."

Raised in California, Porter's mother was a minister, and he cites the Bakersfield Southern Gospel sound, as well as his mother's Nat King Cole record collection, as fundamental influences on his own sound. Porter began singing in small jazz clubs in San Diego while attending San Diego State University on a football scholarship, where he played outside linebacker. Eventually it was music that Porter chose to pursue full-time at the encouragement of local musicians including his mentor Kamau Kenyatta.

Kenyatta invitEd Porter to visit him in the studio in Los Angeles, where he was producing the flutist Hubert Laws' album Remembers the Unforgettable Nat King Cole. When Laws overheard Porter singing along while he was tracking the Charlie Chaplin song "Smile," the flutist was so impressed with the young singer that he decided to include Porter on the album.

Another fortunate twist of fate was the presence in the studio that day of Laws' sister, Eloise, a singer who was soon to join the cast of a new musical theater production It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues. Porter had minimal theatrical experience but was cast in one of the show's lead roles when the play opened in Denver, and he eventually followed it to Off-Broadway and then Broadway, where The New York Times, in its 1999 rave review, mentionEd Porter among the show's "powerhouse line up of singers." It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues went on to earn both Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations that year.

Porter eventually put down roots in Brooklyn, and in 2010 released his debut album Water (Motéma Music), which earned a GRAMMY nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. His sophomore album Be Good (Motéma Music) followed in 2012 and earned him his second GRAMMY nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh's most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country's largest land masses "curated" by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity. Using the arts as an economic catalyst, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh's quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts.

Photo Credit: Gregory Porter

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