Immigration Nation

Porter's playing is fluid, expressive, and magnificent.
DownBeat

With a sweeping collection of new music, acclaimed trumpeter/composer Charlie Porter gathers a dynamic group of forward-looking musicians to celebrate America's rich immigrant history. In a time when policy has become a heart-wrenching polarizing topic, Porter felt compelled to reclaim the uniting power of the word "immigrant" through art, knowing its healing capacity can be great when crafted with intention. Porter, saxophonist Nick Biello, pianist Oscar Perez, bassist David Wong, and drummer Kenneth Salters, present twelve original compositions in two sets, "Leaving Home" & "New Beginnings." The ensemble burns and soars while embracing many global influences that have found their way into the music, including elements from Porter's Lebanese/Greek/Italian heritage, all while fully living in the essence and language of jazz.

"...an incredibly proficient instrumentalist, with a fluid and expressive style that feels like a fresh twist on the hard-bop establishment" - Jazz Society of Oregon

Production Info:

Produced by Steve Alboucq
Recorded by Mike Marciano & Max Ross at Samurai Hotel Recording Studio, Astoria, NY
on April 28-29, 2019
Mixed & Mastered by Mike Marciano,Systems Two, Long Island
Photos by Steve Alboucq
Cover design & layout by John Bishop

Reviews of Immigration Nation

Midwest Record (Chris Spector)
If you had great grand parents who came here not knowing how to speak English but able to push a cart through alleys 12 hours a day while they figured how to support their families and prosper, you don't have to be a guilty, white, liberal to feel for what immigrant families are going through today. This set, cut into ‘leaving home' and ‘new ...

Audiophile Audition (Jeff Krow)
Over the last six months, there have been numerous CD releases by jazz musicians dealing with our country's divisive political climate, highlighted by the immigration issues at our borders. Central American refugees have flocked to US border cities, fleeing economic, political, and drug cartel problems emanating from their native countries. The thr ...

All About Jazz (Paul Rauch)
4 1/2 STARS Jazz has always carried with it a social narrative with historical ebbs and flows reliant on the polarizing issues of its time. With Immigrant Nation (OA2, 2019), Portland based trumpeter Charlie Porter embraces the forever narrative of American immigration, the historical force of humanity that has formed and enriched this country fro ...

JAZZIZ (Editor)
CRITIC'S CHOICES Trumpeter and composer Charlie Porter released an impressive self-titled 2018 debut recording that featured tracks ranging progressively from solo to sextet settings, then reversed back the other way. The Juilliard grad waxes conceptual on his sophomore recording, Immigration Nation (OA2), as well, this time tackling the immigrant ...

JazzHalo (Belgium) (Georges Tonla Briquet)
In eighty minutes, subdivided into two parts ('Leaving Home', 'New Beginnings'), trumpet player and composer Charlie Porter gives his version of the American immigration flow at the beginning of the last century. No past history but a burning topical subject brought by a top quintet that immediately goes through an entire jazz history. Sabine Kabon ...

Jazz Weekly (George W Harris)
Trumpeter Charlie Porter gives a twelve song tribute to the dreams and journeys of immigrants with a band that sounds like they've imbibed from the waters of Horace Silver. Together with Nick Biello/ts, Oscar Perez/p, David Wong/b and Kenneth Salters/dr, Porter gives vintage hard bop sounds and harmonies on the sleek "Divergent Paths" and the Sen ...

DownBeat (Suzanne Lorge)
4-STARS On Immigration Nation, versatile trumpeter and composer Charlie Porter utilizes modern jazz vernacular to make a social statement about contemporary life in the United States: Our forebears and our music all derive from someplace else. Rather than preach, however, he shows how it works. On Part I: Leaving Home, the first six tunes, he cele ...

Distorsioni (Italy) (Nicola Barin)
Former Winton Marsalis student Charlie Porter on his second album as leader, hits the target perfectly. With this project, "Immigration Nation", the trumpeter of Florida pays homage to the United States as a welcoming land. The music Americana is a fusion of styles and characters to which different populations have contributed who, especially from ...

All About Jazz - Interview (Nicholas Mondello)
Charlie Porter: Discovering Horizons Past, Present And Future Charlie Porter is one of the most insightful, creatively brilliant and truly dynamic trumpet artists performing today. Porter straddles both the jazz and classical trumpet worlds with ease and has garnered highly-celebrated performance and recording reviews. An innovative composer and ...

Cadence (Bob Rusch)
IMMIGRATION NATION [OA2 Records 22177] is CHARLIE PORTER's compelling work dedicated to immigrants. The work is divided into two sections — Leaving Home and New Beginnings. Each part is comprised of six pieces [78:52]. It reminds me of Freddie Hubbard's "Song of Songmy" [1970], but performed with a smaller ensemble. Hubbard employed a large group ...

Jazz N'More (Switzerland) (Phil Stockli)
Charlie Porter's "Immigration Nation" is a two-part hardbop suite with a political message in the style of Wynton Marsalis. In the twelve original compositions he celebrates America's tradition as a nation of immigrants. The frontline consists of Porter with his warm, full trumpet sound and the fiery alto saxophonist Nick Biello, who can be heard h ...

Chicago Jazz Magazine (Hrayr Attarian)
Trumpeter Charlie Porter's second release as a leader, Immigration Nation, is a stunning magnum opus that demonstrates a maturation of the ideas and concepts explored on Porter's eponymous debut. Moreover, this tribute to America and its immigrants is a many layered, two-part work that is both multifaceted and thematically cohesive. Porter leads a ...