Gregory took to the stage in front of an excited audience. His album Water was nominated for a Grammy Award last year and he is certainly popular in NYC where his gig was sold out.

Gregory is obviously an extremely kind, gentle man with a captivating voice, you can’t help but beam with a smile while watching him. He owns every part of every word, never missed a beat or a note, sings with honesty and conviction and has a beautiful deep tone.

His songs are each beautiful pieces of art, emotional, honest, intelligent and will have you closing your eyes, breathing in deeply and thinking ‘now that’s real music.’

The musical highlight of the night for me was actually a cover of ‘God bless the child.’ I’ve never heard any cover of any song sung as passionately, convincingly and so incredibly soulfully. The band was fantastic, the groove seemed effortless and all members including Gregory performed with immense enthusiasm for the music and respect for sharing the stage with one another. The band featured Chip Crawford on piano, Yosuke Sato on saxophone, James on drums and Andrew Atkinson on bass.

I was caught by surprise when Gregory started what must be the jazz equivalent of a ‘smash hit’ when he began his song ’1960 what?.’ The band begun by clapping a simple crotchet rhythm when suddenly the audience burst into a complex polyrhythmic clapping pattern. Gregory entered with commanding vocals with unexpected rhythmic phrasing that had everyone swinging in their chairs. Come the chorus, without any prompting the audience burst out singing Gregory’s lyrics back at him in a call and response formula.
People around me were calling out for their favourite songs, Be Good seemed to be the most in demand, and so Gregory had the band start the song only to surprise everyone including those on stage by singing a different song over the top. The audience was laughing and calling out until he finally broke the excited tension with the first words of Be Good.

My favourite of his original songs was ‘Real Good Hands.’ After a spoken introduction he comes in with the first melodic line, hear it and weep.
Gregory is a flawless performer with a beautiful gift and I have no doubt he will soon receive the world wide recognition he deserves. Check him out and get in on him before everyone else beats you to it!

CHECK OUT HIS SONG 1960 what?

Berkman is a purist: his phrasing lives in the blue notes and he’ll always reach for a solid, melodic change if things ever threaten to get too out of hand. Greene makes a good foil: he’s a lot terser, even impatient sometimes, always ready with a catchy hook or a snazzy phrase to keep everybody’s attention. On the fifth track here, Hidden Fondness, the way he works the chords from the hint of a smile to a big wide grin, deliberately and purposefully, is a clinic in how to build a solo. Poor segues artfully into the next section for Berkman to take it halfspeed, the band winding their way out with a captivating warmth.

Simple Pleasures, a midtempo swing tune, has the feel of a standard from the classic era, Greene handling the smartly catchy hook with aplomb over some latin-inflected changes right up to Berkman’s confidently cocktail-infused solo, rivulets of melody flowing smoothly from the stage to the bar – or maybe vice versa. This is a live show, straight up, no edits: with the jaunty swing of Along Came Betty, Berkman feels around for where he wants to go, fluid, matter-of-fact, propulsive and finally decides that he’d simply like to stay where he is. It’s a particularly striking contrast with the ambitious opening tune Weird Knack, Greene moving in and taking over immediately from Berkman’s pulsing rhythm. The piano then winds down to a gritty, picturesque mysteriousness, Berkman eventually building his chordal intensity into a fullscale theme with echoes of Giant Steps as the drums move in tandem with the crescendo. If traditional jazz is your thing, here’s somebody who’s keeping it alive in his own subtle yet irrepressible way.