GREGORY PORTER
Still Rising (Blue Note/Decca)
Still Rising documents Gregory Porter’s ascent over the last decades via two CDs and 34 songs’ worth of the baritone maestro’s old favourites, newbies and recent collaborations. Covering many bases, albeit predominantly jazz, blues and gospel-tinged, it can’t really be described as a greatest hits package: Porter is still very much active, and this is most definitely not his swan song.
The recent tracks that Gregory Porter made with Moby are included here, as are collaborations with Paloma Faith, Jamie Cullum and – posthumously – Ella Fitzgerald, with the majestic People Will Say We’re In Love. Standout track 1960 What? is a poignant rallying cry that shows how little things have really changed since race riots burned Detroit to the ground in the 1960s. This collection rises above pretty much all of the usual festive best-ofs that dominate the shelves at this time of the year.
words DAVID NOBAKHT