''Take Me to the Alley'' is the fourth studio album by

Gregory Porter Gregory Porter (born November 4, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He has twice won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album: first in 2014 for ''Liquid Spirit'' and then again in 2017 for ''Take Me to the Alley''. Early li ...

, released on May 6, 2016 through

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. Or ...

. It earned Porter a 2017

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for

Best Jazz Vocal Album The Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works (songs or albums) in the vocal jazz ...

. The album was recorded in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

between September and October 2015. Porter worked alongside producer

Kamau Kenyatta Kamau Kenyatta (born June 27, 1955) is a Grammy Award-winning record producer. He is a musician, arranger, film composer, and educator. He is a Teaching Professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Life and career Kenyatta wa ...

, with whom he first worked in the mid-1990s when he was a student at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

. Porter observed: "Kamau has been most instrumental in taking what I have and refining it... he's been great at offering encouragement to what I already have artistically."

Reception

Writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'',

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...

said:

... for all its easiness on the ear, – and there are moments when listening ''Take Me to the Alley'' feels like being mugged by a syrup sponge pudding – there’s something weirdly uncompromising about Porter’s music. He doesn’t bother with glossy production: ''Take Me to the Alley'' sounds fantastic, but that’s down to the warm spontaneity of an album that seems to have been recorded in six days. Nor does he dabble in radio-friendly pop covers – no scat-singing interpreter of the
Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...
songbook he. His own compositions proudly display his gospel roots – not the first genre you’d think of flaunting were you desperate for mainstream success. The title track offers up a parable about the second coming of Christ, its sternness at odds with the pacific piano playing and Alicia Olatuja’s pillowy backing vocals; "In Heaven" undercuts the small hours loveliness of its muted trumpet with a lyric by Porter’s cousin about death and redemption.

Track listing

All songs written by

, except where noted. Arrangements by Porter, Chip Crawford and Kamau Kenyatta, horns arranged by Kenyatta and Keyon Harrold.

Deluxe edition bonus tracks

DVD bonus tracks

# "Take Me to the Alley" (EPK) – 6:33 # "Don't Lose Your Steam" (Official Video) – 3:17 # The Making of "Don't Lose Your Steam" - 2:04 # "Don't Lose Your Steam" (1 Mic 1 Take) – 3:28 # "Holding On" (1 Mic 1 Take), featuring Kem – 4:10 #

Don Was Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was, is an American musician, record producer and record executive. Primarily a bass player, Was co-founded the funk-rock band Was (Not Was). In later years he produced s ...

Interview (#"Take Me to the Alley") – 19:31

Personnel

Voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...

– Gregory Porter *

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

– Chip Crawford * Bass – Aaron James *

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

– Emanuel Harrold *

Alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

– Yosuke Sato *

Tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

–

Tivon Pennicott Tivon Pennicott is an American composer, orchestrator and tenor saxophonist. Of Jamaican parentage, he grew up in Marietta, Georgia, but moved to Miami, Florida, where he studied music at the University of Miami. On a visit in Los Angeles, he met a ...

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

–

Keyon Harrold Keyon Karim Harrold (born November 18, 1980) is an American jazz trumpeter, vocalist, songwriter, and producer. Early life and family Keyon Harrold was born and raised in Ferguson, Missouri, United States, one of 16 children in a family of music ...

Organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

– Ondřej Pivec *Voice –

Alicia Olatuja Alicia Olatuja is a mezzo-soprano and graduate of the Manhattan School of Music. She has made her professional debut as Sacagawea at the Opera Memphis and at Carnegie Hall, UVA, and The Kennedy Center. She has sung with the Brooklyn Tabernac ...

;Production *

Producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

– Gregory Porter,

* Recording engineer -

Jay Newland Jay Newland is an American music producer, engineer and mixer, perhaps best known for his work with Norah Jones on her 2002 debut album ''Come Away with Me'', one of the best-selling albums of all time, with 27 million units sold worldwide to dat ...

(at

Sear Sound Walter Edmond Sear (27 April 1930 – 29 April 2010) was an American recording engineer, musician, instrument importer and designer, inventor, composer and film producer. He was considered a pioneer in the use of the synthesizer and an exper ...

, NYC), Charlie Paakkari (at Capitol Studio B, LA) * Assistant engineers - Grant Valentine and Richie Kennon (at Sear Sound) * Mixing - Jay Newland (at Capitol Studio B) ;Additional musicians on Deluxe Edition's bonus tracks *Guest vocals - Kem ("Holding On"),

Lalah Hathaway Eulaulah Donyll "Lalah" Hathaway (born December 16, 1968) is an American singer. In 1990 Hathaway released her first album titled ''Lalah Hathaway''. After releasing another album, titled '' A Moment'' (1994), it debuted at number 34 on the To ...

("Insanity") *Bass, keyboard - Demetrius Nabors ("Holding On") *Guitar - Darrell Crooks ("Insanity") *Remix - Rex Rideout ("Insanity"),

Fred Falke Frédérick Falke () (born 7 January 1973), known professionally as Fred Falke, is a French house and dance music producer and DJ. Biography Falke started out as a bass player before moving to production work. His first record, a collaboratio ...

("Don't Loose Your Steam") ;DVD *Piano trio at Capitol Studio A on tracks 4 and 5 - Chip Crawford, Jahmal Nichols (bass), and Emanuel Harrold *Guest vocals on 5 - Kem *Video directors - Ali Muhammad (1), Nayip Ramos (2, 3), Possum Hill (4-6) *Video producers - Thoro NYC (1), Decca Records France (2, 3), Daylan Williams (4-6)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2016 albums Gregory Porter albums Blue Note Records albums Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album Vocal jazz albums