From The Archives Of Something Blue 2025-03-16
Art Porter – A Portrait Of Art
Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear a great Arkansas jazz pianist play everybody’s favorite song.
I can remember, back in the day, when I used to watch the Art Porter Trio play jazz on AETN. Older listeners will remember a time when all the world’s music wasn’t at your fingertips and it wasn’t that often that you got to hear a piano trio on television.
Art Porter led a full life with church, family, music education, and performance, often intertwined. That is he started playing at church and later he played at church with his own family, who he taught to play. He also taught in Little Rock, Arkansas, at Horace Mann High School, Parkview High School, and Philander Smith College while performing nights with a jazz trio that sometimes included his son, Art Porter Jr., and sometimes a guest, Pharoah Sanders.
My friend, Suzanne Michell, loved his music and she sang with him as a guest. He even played with his long time friend, Bill Clinton, and Art Porter and his son performed “Amazing Grace” at Bill Clinton’s first inauguration in 1993.
When I’m about to play this song I say, “Ok now, here’s everybody’s favorite song, “Summertime”.
So now, here’s Art Porter, a great man and a genius on jazz piano playing everybody’s favorite song, “Summertime”.
Art Porter Sr. (1934–1993)
encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/art-porter-sr-4011/
Art Porter Sr.
www.artporter.org/art-porter-sr
A Portrait Of Art – Liner Notes
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