Nailah Porter

Vocalist • Composer • Poet • Photographer • Educator

Nailah's artistic practice is rooted in remembrance and liberation. Her work honors Ancestors who passed down their wisdom, knowledge, and beauty through culture that bridges us to joy and freedom.

The North Carolina native's debut album, ConJazzNess, was released on EmArcy Records/UMG. She has co-written songs with Grammy Award winners Billy Childs, Jeff Lorber and Tom Scott, as well as Emmy-nominated producer-songwriter Sheree Brown, pianist-composer Deron Johnson (Miles Davis), and bassist Curtis Robertson, Jr. (Les McCann, Syreeta Wright, Gary Bartz, Lou Rawls). Nailah has recorded and toured worldwide with various artists from jazz to rock to hip hop, including Beck, Warren G, Dove Shack, John Cale (Velvet Underground), Cold War Kids, Cree Summer, Leon Mobley, Italian artists Nicola Conte and Gabriele Poso, and Zambian artist Sitali Siyolwe.

Lyrics from ConJazzNess were published in Voices from Leimert Park Redux: Los Angeles Poetry Anthology. Her music, poetry, and photography have been featured in films, TV, college classrooms, poetry journals and publications, including the Altadena Poetry Review: Anthology 2024,1619 Speaks Anthology, and The Los Angeles Press Volume 7/The Sacred. She recently completed her first collection of poetry and photography, CarolinaBlueBlack TobaccoStainedWisdom.

Nailah is also an educator and attorney. As a teaching artist, she conducts writing workshops, readings and lectures for public libraries, community colleges, and organizations. She is a professor and professional development facilitator in the California Community College system, specializing in curriculum, instructional design, online learning, and student-centered success strategies. Before moving to Los Angeles, Nailah practiced law and served as In-House Counsel and Legislative Analyst for a Washington, D.C. think tank, where she lobbied Congress on important legislative measures.

RITUAL OF MAPPING

Nailah’s latest offering Ritual of Mapping, is a multimedia journey of ancestral veneration and communion. The project is a personal note of acknowledgement and deep gratitude for her Ancestral Mother who survived the Middle Passage.

Ritual of Mapping features writer, actor and filmmaker S. Pearl Sharp, pianist-composter Deron Johnson, Grammy Award winning trumpeter Nicholas Payton, percussionist Leon Mobley, bassists Edwin Livingston and Dominique Sanders, drummer Roger "Joose" Benford, guitarist Curtis Robertson, Jr., saxophonist Jordan DeTiege, and other Los Angeles-based musicians who are masters at their craft.

Produced by Nailah Porter and Grammy Award winning producer, Darryl Swann, the project is a collaborative honoring of the shared experience of descendants of enslaved Africans. Through voice, music, poetry, dance, and the visual arts, "we gather to declare our Ancestors, our community and ourselves as sacred".