(November 22, 2021) Back in 1982, the Michael Ontkean/Kate Jackson movie Making Love didn’t make huge waves at the box office, but it did bring Roberta Flack a big hit with the title song, a beautiful ballad written by Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Bruce Roberts that charted highly on the Pop, R&B and Adult Contemporary charts. And it had a second life a year later with an excellent cover by The Chi-Lites.
Now, nearly four decades later, on his new Still Rising – The Collection double album, R&B and jazz star Gregory Porter has issued a lush updating of “Making Love,” and it simply sounds fantastic. Teaming with Dutch vocalist Trijntje Oosterhuis (who we enjoyed on Lionel Richie’s “Face In The Crowd”) and the Metropole Orkest, Porter delivers a faithful cover of the Flack original, but enriching it in duet form. The gentle ballad lays well for the always-rich vocals of both Porter and Oosterhuis, and the lush but restrained work of the Metropole is the near perfect background.
This is stunningly beautiful nighttime music. Check out “Making Love” below and tell us what you think.
Gregory Porter, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Metropole Orkest
“Making Love”