Gregory Porter, Grammy Nominated Jazz Singer w/ Claudia Hayden – WCLK Jazz Night Benefit Concert – Friday, September 14, 2012 | Best of Atlanta Concerts | Atlanta Concert, Tickets & Performing Arts Resource

Gregory Porter

Experience the adventures of harmonic rhythm, progressive chord patterns and thematic transformations at the WCLK Jazz Night Benefit Concert featuring Grammy nominated Jazz Vocalist Gregory Porter along with acclaimed Flautist Claudia Hayden. The evening will feature a montage of songs from Porter’s new album, Be Good, which combines up beat, spiraling melodies with meditative Jazz and Soul ballads. Porter has made the world his musical home and, credits singers like Nat King Cole, Joe Williams and Donny Hathaway as influential to the development of his artistry.

With a voice that can caress or confront, embrace or exhort, Grammy nominee, Gregory Porter exhibits such an incredible degree of vocal mastery that no less a jazz luminary than Wynton Marsalis has gone on record to call him “a fantastic young singer,” which makes the fact that Water (out now from Motema Music) is his recording debut even more impressive.

Born in Los Angeles, raised in Bakersfield, and now living in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, Gregory Porter has made the world his musical home. A frequent guest performer with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Porter also maintains a residency at Smoke Jazz in New York. He appears on 2 tracks on the new Nicola Conte album, appeared on the Jools Holland BBC show in mid April. This year among the many festivals and events he will be on include the elb Jazz Festival in Hamburg, the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland and the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta.

Claudia Hayden

New York City based flautist, composer, and songwriting producer Claudia Hayden and her band, The Claudia Hayden Project, continue to move audiences to standing ovations at venues throughout the U.S. Possessing a sound that ranges from funky and sassy to sublimely smooth, the sheer power of the music is evident in the new release of her debut Jazz CD, “Abstract.”

True to her Louisiana roots, Ms. Hayden, a publisher member of ASCAP, has developed a velvety yet energetic style with a hypnotic tone nearing vocal quality. “Abstract” showcases soul stirring original songs written by Ms. Hayden, and The Hayden Project delivers fiery licks generating from Jazz, World Music, and Funk.

Ms. Hayden studied with renowned avant-garde jazz clarinetist Alvin Batiste and flautist Kent Jordan while performing with artists including Joe Sample, Marc Cary,
and Roy Hargrove.

When:              Friday, September 14, 2012 – 8:00PM
Where:             Ferst Center for the Ars – 349 Ferst Drive – Atlanta
Tickets:            $32.50 / $47.50 / $57.50