Samara Joy

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A . . . deeply emotive vocalist, with power that usually takes a lot of living to master.

—DownBeat

With a voice as smooth as velvet, Samara Joy is a singer whose star seems to rise with each performance. She first attracted attention when she won the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition; she is now touring in support of her self-titled debut record, released in 2021.

Raised in a musical household in the Bronx, Joy performed regularly with the jazz band at Fordham High School for the Arts, winning Best Vocalist at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition. Still in her early 20s, Joy has already performed in many of New York City’s great jazz venues—including Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, the Blue Note, and Mezzrow—and worked with jazz greats such as Christian McBride, Pasquale Grasso, Jon Faddis, Kirk Lightsey, Cyrus Chestnut, and Barry Harris. She has dug deep to discover her jazz roots without losing sight of the simplicity that makes her sound shine, and her interpretations balance the fresh feel of a newcomer with a reverence for a tradition she is now part of.