By Solé Scott
Editor in Chief
Samara Joy with her two Grammys.
The popularity of jazz has declined tremendously from its heyday in the early to mid-20th century until now.
Samara Joy is a 24-year-old Black woman from the Bronx who sings jazz. Joy was a vocal major at SUNY’s Purchase College and was named an Ella Fitzgerald Memorial Scholar.
“SUNY Purchase was one of the schools that I chose, and I auditioned. I saw they had a wonderful jazz voice program,” Joy said to Forbes magazine.
Joy’s vocal abilities bear a stark resemblance to the queens of jazz, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.
“When I took my first jazz voice lesson at Purchase, my teacher, her name’s Alexis Cole, she’s like, ‘I love your voice. You have a beautiful resonance, but stylistically, it needs some work,’ because a lot of singers, it doesn’t sound like you listen to jazz,” Joy said.
Joy released her third studio album, “Portrait,” on Oct. 11.
The album consists of eight songs and spans 44 minutes in total of tranquil music.
I love every song on this album and her last two albums, which is rare for me. The only other artists that I feel the same way about are Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse.
The jazz singer is severely underrated on the mainstream level even though she has been nominated for and won three Grammys.
At the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Joy won Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album for her breakout album “Linger Awhile.” At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards she won Best Jazz Performance for the song “Tight.”
I blame music publications such as Pitchfork Media and Rolling Stone for her lack of popularity and not expanding their musical reviews and including Joy in their daily rankings.
Another reason for Joy’s lack of popularity is the music climate we have been in, which is dominated by hip-hop, pop and country.
Slowly but surely, Joy is making a name for herself, as she boasts 524,200 monthly listeners on Spotify. Her most streamed song is “Can’t Get Out Of This Mood,” from her 2022 album “Linger Awhile.”
To generate more buzz for “Portrait, “ Joy performed “No More Blues” on “Today.” The spectacular performance included a full band, which is lacking in today’s live performances in the music industry.
The way her voice is mellifluous and glides up and down notes is truly amazing to hear.
Since she appeared on my Apple Music weekly playlist, I have been a staunch supporter of this wonderful woman that has increased my love for jazz on a deeper level.
This June, Joy held a concert in New Haven at College Street Music Hall for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.
Joy is currently on a North American tour. The tour will conclude on May 20, 2025, in Ridgefield, CT.
Stream all of her music starting with her self-titled debut album, “Samara Joy,” to understand why she should be in everyone’s 2024 music rotation.
