Art Porter

Art Porter grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, absorbing jazz standards at home from his father, the pianist Art Porter, Sr., who had previously accompanied Carmen McCrae and John Stubblefield. He first played drums in his father’s band but switched to saxophone after observing the melodic command of both his father and his high-school band director, Leonard Johnson. The instrument’s proximity to the human voice drew him in, and he discovered an immediate rapport with it. At sixteen he joined his father’s trio, yet club appearances were prohibited because he was underage; the resulting legal action prompted Arkansas Attorney General Bill Clinton to secure legislation permitting minors to perform when supervised by a parent or guardian.

By eighteen, touring with organist Jack McDuff and saxophonist Pharoah Sanders taught him essential lessons in stagecraft and audience engagement. Between engagements he studied at the Berklee Conservatory of Music and at Virginia Commonwealth University under pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis. In 1992 a scholarship brought him to Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree before earning a master’s at Roosevelt University. There he received guidance from tenor saxophonist Von Freeman and bassist James Leary.

Signed to Verve Forecast, Porter chose a contemporary direction for his largely self-composed debut rather than following the prevailing neo-bop trend. Keyboardist Jeff Lorber produced and engineered Pocket City, released in summer 1992, which appealed to listeners seeking smooth jazz with more edge. The album featured the ballad “Inside Myself,” a cover of Maxi Priest’s “Close to You,” and the buoyant “Pocket City,” whose video aired on VH1 and BET; the tracks received airplay on both smooth-jazz and select urban outlets. Extensive promotional and concert tours established Porter’s reputation for warmth and high-energy delivery, marked onstage by ceaseless motion, an irrepressible smile, and relentless, roaming saxophone lines.

On 23 November 1996, while traveling to a remote Thai jazz festival, he died when his boat capsized. In addition to the four Verve albums—Pocket City, Straight to the Point, Undercover, Lay Your Hands on Me, and the posthumous For Art’s Sake—Porter contributed as a sideman to recordings by Jeff Lorber, Tom Grant, and Ramsey Lewis, consistently blending hard-bop sensibilities with smooth-jazz settings.