Gregory Porter - Liquid Spirit

Gregory Porter's new highly-anticipated album Liquid Spirit on Blue Note Records was released today. This marks the vocalist's debut on Blue Note, which follows up his two previous GRAMMY-nominated releases Water (2010) and Be Good (2012). The album features a nice mix of heart-felt ballads like "No Love Dying", "Hey Laura", "Water Under Bridges" to uptempo groove-oriented cuts like "Movin'", "Free", "Musical Genocide", and my personal choice for "song of the year" in the title track "Liquid Spirit". The recording also features great renditions of Max Roach/ Abbey Lincoln's classic "Lonesome Lover", Ramsey Lewis' swingin' dancefloor hit "The "In" Crowd", as well as the beautiful standard "I Fall In Love Too Easily". Overall, this is really impressive record, building off the momentum that has followed the vocalist over the past few years, which could easily propel him to the same stardom that has recently shined on other young jazz artists like Esperanza Spalding and Robert Glasper. Porter truly speaks from the heart when he sings, and on Liquid Spirit, that passion flows through the music beautifully.