Gregory Porter's Popular Voices

[Nearly Sane]

Enjoyed the first two programmes in the series, boy can sing and he gives off vibes of appreciation. Many of those covered feature heavily in the How Long Is Too Long thread. I note that the last episode is referred to as Truth Tellers - looking at it, it's more like people who can't really sing but somehow entrance.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05d3m42

[Enki]

Yes, I enjoyed the first two programmes. He's a good singer in the Nat King Cole mode. I suppose the trouble is that there's so much choice of artists covering a century of music, that it's hard to satisfy everyone's taste in such a short time. For me, the whole aim of the series is perhaps too ambitious and this inevitably leads to the feeling that he's basically expressing his personal preferences, at least to some extent.

[Nearly Sane]

I liked Iggy Pop's argument that Sinatra speaks his singing. It helps explain why his phrasing is so good.

[Enki]

I liked Iggy Pop's argument that Sinatra speaks his singing. It helps explain why his phrasing is so good.

Yes, I agree. I also think that Sinatra started out, as many others did at that time, as being part of the band that they were singing with. So his phrasing fitted the backing, and especially with the swing bands that he played with. He just happened to be outstandingly good at it.

[Nearly Sane]

So the Truth Tellers had a number of people who could sing as well as those who don't much. Would have liked some coverage  of Tom Waits as he seemed a natural fit.