The powerful voice of Gregory Porter is truly music to the ears of jazz fans.

Touring and performing since early 2000, his fan base reaches around the world. But many are still discovering his smooth sounds every day.

"People are like, 'Oh, who is this new guy?' I was like, 'Well, I'm new, but I got a couple of Grammys and I have been touring around the world for a while, but I am new,'" he said. 

It wasn't until 2010 when Porter released his first album, "Water." His blending of soul, R&B and gospel into his jazz had already been winning over audiences from far and near.

"Twelve years ago in Russia, I toured 70 cities in Russia," he said. "We would come to these amazing concerts halls in the middle of Yekaterinburg or Nizhnevartovsk, and I was like, 'Ooh, I'm going to Nizhnevartovsk,' and we would get there and there would be 1,000 people there to hear my music."

Porter is from California, but he says New York is his jazz home. He lived and worked in Bedford-Stuyvesant as a cook for several years while also performing in small clubs in Brooklyn and in Harlem.  

"It is just an extraordinary experience to really come from St. Nick's Pub," Porter said. "St. Nick's Pub was at 149th and St. Nicholas. It recently had a fire, and the building was torn down. But that energy of the people, and it was those people, the local people of Harlem who sanctioned my style. And they were like, 'Hmm, whatever that little country gospel thing you have in your delivery, we like it.'"

His song "On My Way to Harlem," which he says is about jazz not being appreciated as it should be by new and old residents of the area, was actually written on the subway on his way to performing at St. Nick's Pub.

Along with his singing, Porter's headgear is often the topic of conversation with plenty of speculation as to why he wears it. He says it's just his style.

His latest album is a tribute to another artist who had plenty of style. It's called "Nat King Cole and Me."

But when asked if he is a modern day Nat King Cole, Porter said, "Hmm, watch out now, I am not a modern day Nat King Cole, but I am Gregory Porter. But the pigment of the paint that is on me is definitely that of Nat King Cole. His music came into my life at a early age when I was six or seven."

And because New York is also such an important part of his jazz pigment, he plans to thank the city in a musical way.

"One thing I would like to say to the New York audience is, thank You, thank you for, I mean, there is even a song I am writing about it. Thank you for making a place for me, opening your arms and letting me see. Thank you, thank you thank you.