Art Porter; Saxophonist Changed Law

Art Porter, a Chicago-based jazz saxophonist whose underage performances caught the attention of Bill Clinton, has drowned in western Thailand, Thai newspapers reported Monday. He was 35.

Porter’s boat capsized during an outing in the Kratha Taek Reservoir in western Thailand on Saturday, killing him and at least two other passengers, the newspapers said.

Porter was in Thailand to perform at the Thailand International Jazz Festival ‘96, an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s reign. The king is a jazz musician and composer.

Porter started playing the alto saxophone at age 15, performing with his father’s band in nightclubs in Little Rock, Ark. He studied at the Berklee College of Music and Northeastern Illinois University, and released his first album in 1992.

As a teenager, Porter was arrested for being too young to play at nightclubs, and the case caught the attention of Clinton, a young attorney. As Arkansas’ attorney general, Clinton pushed a law through the state legislature allowing underage artists to perform in bars and clubs as long as a legal guardian was present. The act is known as the “Art Porter Bill.”

In Southern California, Porter had performed at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, among other venues. Critic Zan Stewart, writing for The Times in 1993, praised Porter as “among the most popular artists now in jazz.”