Overview
- Porter was critically injured in a severe car crash on April 28 and, Tony Austin wrote, his condition deteriorated so that he “took his last breath” on May 16 after weeks of medical care.
- He was a central member of the West Coast Get Down collective and played on landmark projects including Kamasi Washington’s The Epic and Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly.
- Porter released four solo records and a 2017 children’s album and in 2024 issued a documentary, Resilience, that documented free music-education programs in Los Angeles.
- He is survived by two daughters and friends and bandmates launched a GoFundMe to cover funeral costs and support the family, raising tens of thousands of dollars by publication.
- Porter’s career grew from mentorship programs in Watts and study at the Manhattan School of Music, and his death has renewed public attention to L.A.’s jazz community and the role of free music education in creating professional musicians.