Gregory Porter will perform his only concert in German-speaking Switzerland on November 19, 2026, at The Hall Dübendorf. He’ll be bringing his sextet, two Grammys, and a career that didn’t begin until he was 38.
Anyone who has ever heard Gregory Porter live knows the moment. The hall falls silent. Then his baritone voice fills the room all the way to the back row. The Zurich-based promoter AllBlues calls him “currently the most successful jazz singer of all.” The numbers back that up. His 2013 album “Liquid Spirit” is still considered the most-streamed jazz album to date. It earned him his first Grammy in 2014. The second followed in 2017 for “Take Me to the Alley.”
Porter’s path to jazz was a detour. Born in 1971 in Sacramento, he grew up in Bakersfield, California. His mother was a pastor and enrolled him in the church choir. Her son wanted to play football. A scholarship took him to San Diego State University as a lineman. A shoulder injury ended his career before it even began.
After that, he turned to cooking. In 2004, Porter moved to Brooklyn and worked in the kitchen at his brother Lloyd’s restaurant. In the evenings, he sang in Harlem, every week at St. Nick’s Pub. His band grew out of this residency. The debut album “Water” was released in 2010. Porter was 38 at the time.
Porter wears the Kangol cap with ear flaps at every performance. He says, “People recognize me by it.” Musically, Porter stays true to jazz while drawing on what he calls the “cousins of jazz”: gospel, soul, and blues. His role models are Nat King Cole, Bill Withers, and Donny Hathaway. He scored a club hit with the British duo Disclosure, “Holding On.” In 2025, he competed on the British show “The Masked Singer” as “Dressed Crab” and came in second. A jazz singer in a crab costume, Saturday nights on ITV.
Porter is bringing his regular band to Dübendorf: Tivon Pennicott on saxophone, Chip Crawford on piano and Fender Rhodes, Ondrej Pivec on organ, Jahmal Nichols on bass, and Emanuel Harrold on drums. The lineup is carefully curated. Porter wants a saxophonist who plays harder than he sings. The contrast, he says, shows that these voices grew up in the same place: bebop, spiritual jazz, gospel.
In the U.S., Porter will tour in 2026 under the title “Love Is King.” The program features songs from all his albums and supplements them with standards on the theme of universal love—a concept his mother instilled in him. There hasn’t been a new album since “Christmas Wish” (2023). Porter continues to write his own songs. The record label has never sent him songs by other artists, he says. He provides enough of his own.
As for AI-generated music, which will flood streaming services in 2026, Porter has one hope: that it will heighten the desire for handmade music. You can see for yourself at The Hall on November 19. His last performance there was in June 2023.