Gregory Porter // Joe Sample & NDR Bigband // Lizz Wright

Gregory Porter

A regular guest with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, up-and-coming vocalist Gregory Porter has staked his clame to fame in the jazz world already. His highly versatile singing draws from the likes of Nat King Cole, Donny Hathaway, Joe Williams , Stevie Wonder or Kurt Elling. Not only does he manage to jump any hurdles between blues, jazz and soul effortlessly, the Grammy nominee also unites the great American traditions of crooning and topical songs with a voice that can caress or confront, embrace or exhort.

Subsequently, his 2010 debut album Water passed the American critics with distinction, and Jamie Cullum stated excitedly on BBC Radio 2: “Finally! Another jazz singer with chops and soul to sit alongside the mighty Kurt Elling. I am so excited about this artist. Originals, offbeat covers, a superb band and a voice both elastic and soulful.This record is effortless and bursting with class.”

Joe Sample & NDR Bigband ‘Children of the Sun’

With the Crusaders he became famous far beyond the jazz scene, his song Street Life was a massive international disco hit, and he has proved to be a reliable provider of chart-breaking material, like One Day I’ll Fly Away for Randy Crawford. He has recorded with a wide range of bands and musos, among them Canned Heat, Steely Dan, The Supremes, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell and Eric Clapton.

Joe Sample is the golden boy of American fusion-jazz, but his recent project Children of the Sun is not as sunny as the title might imply. Stimulated by a visit to the Caribbean island of St. Croix, he started to look particularly into the subject of slavery – a part of his own family history.

Sample has been planning this project since 1995, and will bring his composition to the Berlin audience with the NDR Bigband (the Hamburg Radio Big Band), arranged by Jörg Achim Keller.

Lizz Wright

Born and raised as the daughter of a preacher in the South East of America, Lizz Wright grew up in close contact with the roots and traditions of black music. Although the says “the gospel is always in my heart and veins” she is far from being afraid of genres like folk, rock or avant-garde - a nod to her roots in gospel on the one hand and her gospel of eclecticism on the other. “The funny thing about the transition from only gospel to jazz is that I felt that jazz had a familiar sacredness to it.”

Wright has been the recipient of non-stop critical acclaim and ever-increasing audiences ever since her Verve debut, Salt, in 2003. Asked about the motivations for her new programme she says “It’s time for me to think about what helps and heals somebody else. And sometimes it’s good to sing simple things that people need, besides pieces that are more intriguing or that have great poetry. That’s where I found myself this time around. There are a lot of tools in here. Sometimes we have songs to climb up on to get over obstacles.”

Prepare to get lifted! (use our new east-wing elevator!)