Randy Porter Plays Cole Porter, special guest Nancy King (Heavywood)
If Randy Porter played more widely outside the US Pacific Northwest, he would likely be lauded as one of the leading contemporary jazz pianists. This new album of songs composed by his namesake Cole Porter could go a long way toward bringing about wide recognition of an artist with a record of achievement going back more than three decades. Porter has toured extensively in Europe and Asia, traveling with saxophonist Charles McPherson and bassist David Friesen, among others. He is known on the west coast well beyond his home base in the Portland, Oregon, area.
Six of the nine tracks find Nancy King, at 77, as musicianly as ever—individualistic and expressive, one of the few vocalists capable of improvising with harmonic wisdom equal to that of experienced instrumentalists. Her coordination with Porter, bassist John Wiitala and drummer Todd Strait is evident in this Cole Porter classic captured on video at the recording session.
Spurred by its 2018 Grammy nomination, the Porter-Porter album seems bound to further spread Randy Porter’s growing reputation,.