Take Me to the Alley

Take Me to the Alley is the fourth studio album by Gregory Porter, released on May 6, 2016 through Blue Note Records. It earned Porter a 2017 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album.[13]

Take Me to the Alley
Studio album by Gregory Porter
Released	May 6, 2016
Recorded	Fall 2015
Studio	Capitol Studio B, Hollywood Sear Sound, NYC Unit 2 Studio, N. Hollywood
Genre	Jazz
Length	51:18
Label	Blue Note
Producer	Gregory Porter Kamau Kenyatta
Gregory Porter chronology
Liquid Spirit (2013) Take Me to the Alley (2016) Nat King Cole & Me (2017)
Singles from Take Me to the Alley
"Don't Lose Your Steam" Released: 2016

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.6/10[1]
Metacritic	81/100[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
All About Jazz	[3]
AllMusic	[4]
The Telegraph	[5]
Exeposé	[6]
The Guardian	[7]
Irish Examiner	4/5[8]
The Irish Times	[9]
The National	[10]
Pitchfork	6.7/10[11]
PopMatters	9/10[12]

The album was recorded in Hollywood and New York City between September and October 2015.[14] Porter worked alongside producer Kamau Kenyatta, with whom he first worked in the mid-1990s when he was a student at San Diego State University. Porter observed: "Kamau has been most instrumental in taking what I have and refining it... he's been great at offering encouragement to what I already have artistically."[15]

Reception

Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis said:

... for all its easiness on the ear, – and there are moments when listening Take Me to the Alley feels like being mugged by a syrup sponge pudding – there’s something weirdly uncompromising about Porter’s music. He doesn’t bother with glossy production: Take Me to the Alley sounds fantastic, but that’s down to the warm spontaneity of an album that seems to have been recorded in six days. Nor does he dabble in radio-friendly pop covers – no scat-singing interpreter of the Coldplay songbook he. His own compositions proudly display his gospel roots – not the first genre you’d think of flaunting were you desperate for mainstream success. The title track offers up a parable about the second coming of Christ, its sternness at odds with the pacific piano playing and Alicia Olatuja’s pillowy backing vocals; "In Heaven" undercuts the small hours loveliness of its muted trumpet with a lyric by Porter’s cousin about death and redemption.[16]

Track listing

All songs written by Gregory Porter, except where noted.[17]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Holding On" (Gregory Porter, James John Napier, Guy William Lawrence and Howard John Lawrence)	5:01
2.	"Don't Lose Your Steam"	3:17
3.	"Take Me to the Alley"	5:16
4.	"Day Dream" (Gregory Porter and Craig Dawson)	3:51
5.	"Consequence of Love"	3:20
6.	"In Fashion"	4:34
7.	"More Than a Woman"	3:31
8.	"In Heaven" (Darlene Andrews)	4:18
9.	"Insanity"	5:37
10.	"Don't Be a Fool"	4:31
11.	"Fan the Flames"	4:12
12.	"French African Queen"	3:44
Total length:		51:18

Deluxe edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Holding On" (featuring Kem)	4.16
14.	"Insanity" (featuring Lalah Hathaway)	5.03
15.	"Don't Lose Your Steam" (Fred Falke remix)	3:15
Total length:		63:51

DVD bonus tracks

1. "Take Me to the Alley" (EPK) – 6:33
2. "Don't Lose Your Steam" (Video) – 3:17
3. "Don't Lose Your Steam" (1 Mic 1 Take) – 3:28
4. "Holding On" (1 Mic 1 Take), featuring Kem – 4:10
5. Don Was Interview – 19:31

Personnel

• Alto saxophone – Yosuke Sato
• Bass – Aaron James
• Drums – Emanuel Harrold
• Organ – Ondřej Pivec
• Piano – Chip Crawford
• Tenor saxophone – Tivon Pennicott
• Trumpet – Keyon Harrold
• Voice – Alicia Olatuja, Gregory Porter, Kem, Lalah Hathaway
• Producers – Gregory Porter, Kamau Kenyatta

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2016–17) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] 65 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[19] 11 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[20] 8 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[21] 30 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[22] 5 French Albums (SNEP)[23] 14 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[24] 8 Italian Albums (FIMI)[25] 31 New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ)[26] 1 Portuguese Albums (AFP)[27] 33 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[28] 34 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[29] 11 UK Albums (OCC)[30] 5 US Billboard 200[31] 82

Year-end charts Chart (2016) Position UK Albums (OCC)[32] 65

References

1. "Gregoy Porter: Take Me to the Alley". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
2. "TAKE ME TO THE ALLEY by Gregory Porter". Metacritic. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
3. Bilawsky, Dan (April 10, 2016). "Gregory Porter: Take Me To The Alley". All About Jazz. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
4. Jurek, Thom. "Gregory Porter: Take Me to the Alley". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
5. McCormick, Neil (6 May 2016). "Gregory Porter, Take Me to the Alley, review - the sweet sound of an old soul". The Telegraph. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
6. Keat, Sam (7 May 2016). "Album Review: Gregory Porter – Take Me To The Alley". Exeposé. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
7. Petridis, Alexis (May 5, 2016). "Gregory Porter: Take Me to the Alley review – genre-straddling true grit". theguardian.com. Retrieved December 6, 2016 – via The Guardian.
8. O'Riordan, Alan (March 23, 2016). "Album Review: Gregory Porter - Take Me to the Alley". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
9. Larkin, Cormac (May 18, 2016). "Gregory Porter: Take Me to the Alley review - enough jazz attitude to keep in with the in-crowd". The Irish Times. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
10. Garratt, Rob (May 22, 2016). "Album review: Gregory Porter's Take Me to the Alley is ear pleasingly beautiful". The National. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
11. Moore, Marcus J. (11 May 2016). "Gregory Porter Take Me to the Alley". Pitchfork. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
12. LAYMAN, WILL (10 May 2016). "Gregory Porter: Take Me to the Alley". PopMatters. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
13. "2017 Grammy Awards: Complete list of nominees". latimes.com/. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
14. "Take Me to the Alley - Gregory Porter - Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
15. "Take Me To The Alley - Releases". Blue Note Records. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
16. Petridis, Alexis (May 5, 2016). "Gregory Porter: Take Me to the Alley review – genre-straddling true grit". theguardian.com. Retrieved December 6, 2016 – via The Guardian.
17. "Gregory Porter Returns with "Take Me to the Alley" on May 6; two songs out now". bluenote.com. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
18. "ARIA CHART WATCH #411". auspOp. March 11, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
19. "Austriancharts.at – Gregory Porter – Take Me to the Alley" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
20. "Ultratop.be – Gregory Porter – Take Me to the Alley" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
21. "Ultratop.be – Gregory Porter – Take Me to the Alley" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
22. "Dutchcharts.nl – Gregory Porter – Take Me to the Alley" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
23. "Lescharts.com – Gregory Porter – Take Me to the Alley". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
24. "Offiziellecharts.de – Gregory Porter – Take Me to the Alley" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
25. "Italiancharts.com – Gregory Porter – Take Me to the Alley". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
26. "NZ Heatseekers Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. March 13, 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
27. "Portuguesecharts.com – Gregory Porter – Take Me to the Alley". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
28. "Spanishcharts.com – Gregory Porter – Take Me to the Alley". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
29. "Swisscharts.com – Gregory Porter – Take Me to the Alley". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
30. "Gregory Porter | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
31. "Gregory Porter Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
32. "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2016". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 31, 2016.