The rising star vocalist, Samara Joy will appear alongside the Pasquale Grasso Quartet–Pasquale Grasso on guitar, Ben Patterson on piano, Neal Caine on bass, and Keith Balla on drums– opening the 27th annual Litchfield Jazz Festival on Friday, July 29th in Washington, CT. With an elegantly powerful voice, Joy has swiftly risen to gain critical acclaim from all over the world before she even graduated from college. In this, her first full season as a touring professional, she can be seen in virtually every important jazz festival.
Joy was destined to become a professional musician given her family’s roots in the art. Raised in the Bronx, her paternal grandparents were founders of the Philadelphia-based gospel group The Savettes, and her father toured with Gospel artist Andrae Crouch, often referred to as the father of modern gospel music.
Joy’s early childhood was filled with gospel music though she herself would take a while to join in on the family legacy. “… I didn’t grow up singing in church”, she said in a recent interview. “I constantly heard my family singing inspirational music together, which instilled in me an appreciation for my musical lineage.” It wouldn’t be until she reached high school that she truly began her journey as a vocalist.
At Fordham High School for the Arts, Joy would begin joining the choir at her church and eventually became a worship leader to sing multiple services a week for two years. Her focus on gospel singing would be diverted, however, once she encountered a jazz performance at the high school. Intrigued by this form of music, Joy went on to bring her voice to the school’s jazz band and, in time, won Best Vocalist at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition. The competition is an innovative jazz education events where, each year, high school musicians from across North America travel to New York City to spend three days immersed in workshops, jam sessions, rehearsals and performance. Jazz wouldn’t become Joy’s entire focus until she gained acceptance to the State University of New York at Purchase. There she studied with guitarist Pasquale Grasso and drummer Kenny Washington, among others.
Samara Joy 2022 / samarajoy.com
Joy quickly made friends at SUNY with other young musicians who bounced ideas back and forth to broaden each other’s knowledge of music. This led to her discovering the famed jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughan. After listening to Vaughan’s rendition of 1941’s Lover Man originally performed by Billie Holiday, Joy became inspired. And she found other great vocalists, including Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. “I was immediately attracted to the richness of Sarah’s tone as well as her range and unique way of styling a son, the clarity of Ella’s voice, and Billie’s rhythm as well as the raw emotion she conveys. But though my sound is still changing with every new influence I listen to, I can’t sing like anyone else but me” (John Fordham, londonjazznews.com). In 2019, she won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition at just 19 and was next named a 2020 Ella Fitzgerald Scholar by the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation.
After graduating from SUNY with a degree in Jazz Studies, she quickly gained notice as she began to perform in New York venues with jazz stars like Christian McBride, Pasquale Grasso, Kirk Lightsey, Cyrus Chestnut, and Barry Harris. It was with her old mentor Grasso, along with Matt Pierson, Ari Roland, and Kenny Washington, that she would release her first album, Samara Joy (Whirlwind Recordings) in July 2021.
Samara Joy has since gone on to win the 2021 Jazz Times Readers Poll in the category Best New Artist and the JT Expanded Critic’s Poll as #1 Best New Artist and appeared in the Best Vocalist category as well. She has made world tours and performed at notable venues like Dizzy’s, the Blue Note, and Baltimore’s Keystone Corner and appeared on NBC’s The Today Show.
As the newest jazz vocal sensation at only 22, Joy’s schedule is filled to the brim. Today, when she’s not busy touring, she makes time to post on social media and respond to fans through her popular TikTok account samarajoysings where she currently has some 130,000 followers.
Visit Litchfield Jazz Festival’s website at www.litchfieldjazzfest.com to learn more about the performances in store July 29 – 31. To purchase tickets to see Samara Joy perform on July 29th, at 7:30PM, at the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center, be sure to click: ljf2022.eventbrite.com.