Christmas Wish Gregory Porter

• 1Silent Night03:28
• 2Christmas Waltz03:22
• 3Everything’s Not Lost04:09
• 4Someday At Christmas02:55
• 5Purple Snowflakes03:45
• 6Little Drummer Boy02:53
• 7What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?03:57
• 8Christmas Wish03:54
• 9Cradle in Bethlehem04:14
• 10Do You Hear What I Hear?03:43
• 11Christmas Time is Here03:43
• 12Heart For Christmas04:20
• Total Runtime44:23

Info for Christmas Wish

A Christmas album from Gregory Porter was long overdue and with "Christmas Wish" the wait is over on 3 November 2023. Classics such as "Silent Night" create a festive atmosphere, while his own compositions such as the album's title track add a soulful shimmer to the festive season. A duet with jazz vocal star Samara Joy provides glittering romance. Vocally, Porter is at the peak of his career here and delivers the most beautiful emotional goosebumps.

The festive set also features three original songs by Porter, who is backed throughout the album by his longtime band and produced by his frequent collaborator Troy Miller. The orchestral contributions for Christmas Wish were recorded at Abbey Road. The album features Porter’s interpretations of carols, jazz-age standards and soulful deep cuts from the 1960s, on a track list that includes “Silent Night,” “Little Drummer Boy,” Marvin Gaye’s ‘Purple Snowflakes,” Stevie Wonder’s “Someday At Christmas,” and Frank Loesser’s “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” The latter number has guest vocals by double Grammy-winner Samara Joy.

Porter’s trio of new, self-penned songs includes the title song “Christmas Wish,” “Heart For Christmas” and the album’s first single, the piano ballad “Everything’s Not Lost,” which is now available. released today. That song is a plea by Porter to remember those less fortunate than ourselves. “I’m always thinking of balance,” he says. “That has been instilled in me and it keeps coming up in a lot of my music. At your highest, at your greatest, at your most pleasant time, don’t forget about other people who are suffering.”

Gregory Porter, vocals

Gregory Porter
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 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," he was so impressed with the young singer that he decided to include Porter on the album.

Another fortunate twist of fate was the presence 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.

Despite having now recorded or shared the stage with the likes of Van Morrison, Wynton Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Nicola Conte, Christian McBride, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams and David Murray, Porter remains grounded and humbled by all the new accolades. “Sometimes I haven’t had a chance to absorb and enjoy some of the audiences that I’ve been in front of, especially some of the icons of the music like Wynton and Herbie,” Porter says, “And they give me so much open-arm love; I couldn’t fathom that two years ago.” With the release of Liquid Spirit, Porter’s soaring career will surely ascend even higher.

This album contains no booklet.