Gregory Porter Quotes

Gregory Porter

Profession : Musician

Birth : November 4, 1971

The protest songs of the 1960s and 70s managed to blend political and societal views with music from the heart.

Gregory Porter

The funny thing about nationalism is that there are two sides to it. Some parts of it are beautiful, but there's an ugly side as well.

Gregory Porter

I'm happiest in nature, in trees, rivers, streams, and I'm happiest around my kid - you know that's the funny thing, he is not always in the best of moods, but I am always happiest around him and in nature. Around my family is where I am happiest.

Gregory Porter

I think myself, Jose James, and Robert Glasper are expanding the language - really reminding people that the umbrella of jazz is large and all-encompassing.

Gregory Porter

I was quite shy as a child. My sisters were the gang leaders, my brothers were the enforcers and I was a tag-a-long.

Gregory Porter

The songs I write and the way I see the world have been affected a certain amount since I became a father.

Gregory Porter

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

Gregory Porter

Whether you like punk, grunge, or early rock and roll, there's probably something in there you've been living with your whole life and you didn't even know it was jazz.

Gregory Porter

What a Wonderful World' is a love song to nobody and everybody. I'm thinking about songs like that in my writing with 'Take Me to the Alley.'

Gregory Porter

Writing from a personal experience can bring about this emotion and power of emotion that can be instantly connected to the instrument, my voice.

Gregory Porter

How can you sing a line like, 'I've fallen out of love' when you're 18? You need to experience something of life before you can sing it.

Gregory Porter

You know Bakersfield was full of workers from the south, from Texas and Arkansas, and they brought their gospel and blues with them. And that's the sound I grew with.

Gregory Porter

I was in rehab for nine months, and I needed some solace and distraction. I was in town one day and I sort of stumbled into a jazz jam session, and kept going back.

Gregory Porter

One critic called me nothing but a blues singer, as though that was a slight. That is the highest compliment there is.

Gregory Porter

Waving to the Queen after singing Amazing Grace at Buckingham Palace, that was pretty cool.

Gregory Porter

On stage, it's very naked. There's a reason you shake your knees. You're very vulnerable, cos it's just you, your body is the instrument. But I always had confidence in my voice, if I had the right song, the right words to sing.

Gregory Porter

Being a singer, it's feast or famine. You have to hit it when it's hot.

Gregory Porter

What makes jazz different is that you can't predict it, it's all about freedom. Just when you think you know what you're going to hear there'll be a left turn, a jazz musician will change it up.

Gregory Porter

Even if you've being playing together for years, there'll always be something new. You're constantly back phrasing, front phrasing, singing faster, singing slower.

Gregory Porter

The umbrella of jazz is so big and so wide . If you don't like saxophone, try a vocalist, if you don't like vocalists, try guitar.

Gregory Porter