Remembering Jazz Fusion Saxophonist Art Porter

Art Porter, who drowned in a boating accident last Saturday in Thailand, was the rare jazz fusion saxophonist who played not only with energy but with integrity as well. The 35-year-old musician had just released his fourth album on the Verve label, “Lay Your Hands on Me,” and was in Asia to perform at the Thailand International Jazz Festival ’96.

Porter, the son of the late Arkansas-based pianist Art Porter Sr., began playing drums in his church choir. He soon took up the saxophone and often joined his father in appearances around the Little Rock area in the late ‘70s. Then-Arkansas Atty. Gen. Bill Clinton, a fan of the Porters, championed what became known as the “Art Porter Bill,” which allowed minors to perform in clubs if a parent or guardian is there to supervise.

Porter moved to Chicago when he was 18 and soon joined the band of organist Jack McDuff. It was in Chicago that Porter formed his first quartet, which led to his signing by Verve Records in 1991. Though his albums, which all placed on Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart, were unusually popular, Porter’s playing made few concessions to the pop-oriented material.

“I’m a bebopper at heart,” he told a reporter from his hometown in 1995. “Even though I’m doing contemporary music, I try to write music that has validity. Good music is timeless.”