Lew's News

European Tour; then gigs 12/5, 12/6 in NY and NJ!!

"A Helluva Piano Player" (Jazz Times, 11/07)

SEE BELOW for info on Youtube videos, Myspace pages etc.

ALSO SEE BELOW for my European Tour schedule 11/18-12/2. When I get back I have two great gigs!:

Wed. Dec. 5, 2:30-4pm, Free and open to all. Rutgers-Newark campus concert with the great sax player Jeff Coffin from Bela Fleck's band, me on keyboards, Ryan Berg on bass and Rudy Royston on drums. We'll do some of Jeff's catchy tunes, and some standard songs too. Dana Room, Dana Library.

Thurs., Dec. 6, 8:30-11pm at Big Apple Jazz, $10. Innovative singer Nora McCarthy with Jorge Sylvester on sax, me on synth, and bassist Hill Greene! Located between W.131 and W.132 Streets at 2236 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. (aka 7th Ave); B, C and 2, 3 Trains to 135th or the M2 bus stops right in front. If you're driving, parking is easy on 131st. Tel. (212) 283-JAZZ (5299)

EUROPEAN TOUR: I'll check email when I can--not very often, I'm afraid:
Nov. 18. Flight to Amsterdam.
Nov. 19. Arrive in Amsterdam.
Nov. 20

10am: Guest teacher at U of Amsterdam World Music class
3pm: Coltrane class for composition students of Hein van de Geyn, Royal Conservatory, The Hague
10:15pm. I perform one set at the BIM-huis, with local rhythm section, followed by jam session with local players.

Wednesday Nov. 21

10. Meeting with a group of Amsterdam jazz educators.
2pm. Guest teacher for Class for U of Amsterdam Transformations in Music Class
6pm. Dinner with noted jazz authors Bert Vuijsje, Erik van den Berg (who is working on a Han Bennink biography) and Jeroen de Valk (author of books on Chet Baker and Ben Webster).

Thursday Nov. 22 5pm. Lecture for Conservatory of Amsterdam students and staff: “The Hidden Sources of John Coltrane's Compositions.”
Friday Nov. 23 Take train to Paris where I'll stay with jazz scholar Philippe Baudoin
Sunday Nov. 25. Take train to Tours, France for the International Coltrane Colloquium. Monday Nov. 26. Dave Liebman and I both present keynote talks at the conference. We perform a duet concert of Coltrane's music this evening at the Petit Faucheux. (The concert is already sold out.)
Tues. Nov. 27. I enjoy other people's lectures about Coltrane. Tonight Liebman will play with Richie Beirach and Lookout Farm.
Wed. Nov. 28. Travel day. Train to Paris, train to Amsterdam, plane to Hwleinki, Finland.
Thursday Nov 29. I attend the International Jazz, Pop, and Folk conference at the renowned Sibelius Conservatory.
Friday Nov 30. 10.00. I present a keynote lecture: "What do they say about jazz history, and what can we know about it? An informal talk with examples." 7pm. I perform at the Feeniks Club with saxophonist Jari Perkiomaki and other superb members of their faculty.
Sat. Dec. 1. I enjoy the conference in the morning, take the plane back to the US in the afternoon.
Sunday Dec. 2. Arrive back at JFK airport.

CDs, and Podcasts:
YOU CAN WATCH VIDEOS of me in performance by searching my name at YOUTUBE or going to Myspace.com/Lrpjazz. More to come!

-You can watch my entire 100 minute lecture-performance with Jane Ira Bloom, 10/13/07.

-The recording of the "legendary" smoking second set from our Big Apple gig in June (the trio with Ratzo Harris and Rudy Royston) is available NOW at Artistowned.com. There are 4 tunes and each MP3 is 99 cents.

-BOTH OF MY CDS are now at iTunes: Do a Power Search for Porter in genre Jazz, and click on Show All. The old one is at eMusic too, and soon the new one will be added!

My new "live" trio CD Italian Encounter is also available at http://altrisuoni.com/ You'll see it right on the home page but you can also search for my name. The phenomenal bassist (Furio Di Castri) and drummer (Fabrizio Sferra) on this CD are famous in Europe and have worked with Lovano, Brecker, Chet Baker, Konitz, etc., etc. My previous CD Second Voyage is still there too, with Dave Liebman, Dan Faulk, Kenny Wessel, Harvie S, and Marcus Baylor. One track from each CD is at Lewisporter.com

So far Italian Encounter has received ONLY rave reviews! THE LATEST REVIEWS: Thomas Conrad in Jazz Times (11/07):

Lewis Porter must now be known as a helluva piano player who happens to have several day gigs (as a professor, author and consultant)…Porter plays…long rhapsodic single-note runs. "Body and Soul" is a rapt, patient encounter, the melodic narrative acknowledged but time taken for subplots and glittering corollaries.

NEW REVIEW by Jerry D'Souza at allaboutjazz.com:

The empathy between them is remarkable and makes for a delightful concert…. Porter can indulge in a melody and draw it out, exposing its spell charmingly. He illuminates his runs with little spaces and in a welter of notes that tumble and roar. He also has a penchant for unleashing a thunderous chord unexpectedly, but it sits perfectly in the frame of his progression….Each of the musicians brings an enterprising vision and an edge to even the most lyrical of tunes, a prime example being “Lester Young Samba.”…”Again and Again (ii-V-I),” a lovely ballad, is perfectly mainstream. Porter weaves a rich melodic tapestry, his vivid colors brushed with a flurry or daubed with resolute emphasis.

Marc Medwin in AllAboutJazz-NewYork, 11/ 07:

"Body and Soul" traveled the spaceways, the journey back to the head near miraculous…The intense dialogues of Bill Evans' groups are invoked…The originals here are equally engaging…This is a well-programmed and refreshingly varied disc.

Allen Lowe's double CD Jews In Hell is out. (see Allanlowe.com) I am featured on a long piano solo (I use Allan's written theme and then improvise in the style of it; then I get more free); it also features (on separate tracks) Matthew Shipp and my friends Mark Ribot and Randy Sandke, among others.

RADIO INTERVIEWS:

-An extended recent WBGO radio interview that i feel good about is archived permanently: Go to www.wbgo.org and go to News, then go to Journal Archive, and click on July 6, 2007.

-I am featured in Episode 21 of the new Coltrane podcast series, and did some advising behind the scenes. It also features interviews with McCoy Tyner, Billy Taylor, Joe Lovano, etc. Subscribe for free: http://traneumentary.blogspot.com