Randy Porter

Jazz pianist Randy Porter has a refined understanding of improvisation and the spontaneous communication between musicians. As a Steinway Artist, Randy Porter draws from a rich palette of sonorities found within his imagination and the depths of the piano. Lynn Darroch of The Oregonian states, “Porter has built a reputation as a musician’s musician, a knowledgeable, inventive, and sophisticated player with a remarkable sense of time and gorgeous keyboard facility…”

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Randy Porter has performed with many jazz greats, including Freddy Hubbard, Art Farmer, and Benny Golson. He has also performed with the Charles McPherson Quartet throughout the US and in France, Italy, Greece, and China. The Charles McPherson Quartet has re-created the music from the classic recording Charlie Parker with Strings, performing with many orchestras nationwide. Porter has also toured with Diane Schuur and Bobby Caldwell, conducting the Jazz Orchestra for their “Sing in Swing” tour.

Randy Porter has toured Europe with bassist David Friesen and has performed on several recordings with Friesen. Friesen’s 2001 Trio CD, Name of a Woman, received 4 stars from Downbeat in June of 2002 and featured Porter as pianist and composer. Porter has also recorded, performed, and toured worldwide with singer Gino Vannelli; Porter’s pianistic contributions can be heard on Vannelli’s CD’s, Yonder Tree, Slow Love and Canto.

David Friesen Trio

David Friesen, Randy Porter and Alan Jones have been playing as a trio since the early nineties, touring throughout the United States and Europe playing concerts and conducting jazz workshops. Their skill as a trio has been documented in almost every major jazz publication around the world. Two of their recordings The Name of a Woman and Midnight Mood were selected in two separate Jazz Times critic polls (1999, 2002) as one of the best 5 jazz recordings of the year. The Name of a Woman was listed as one of the top 10 jazz imports of the year in the Swing Journal Jazz Magazine of Japan.

“Instead of grabbing you by the throat and dragging you into their musical environment, they subtly coax you to come closer, sweeping you away on a journey that ebbs and flows with flexible phrasing, sensitive dynamics, mobile-like textures and melodic/harmonic tension/release those only master improvisers could freely manipulate.”

– Jim Ferguson/Jazz Times

personnel

Randy Porter, acoustic piano
John Wiitala, acoustic bass
Todd Strait, drums
Nancy King, vocalist

David Friesen, acoustic bass
Randy Porter, piano
Alan Jones, drums