Samara Joy

Hailing from New York City, American jazz vocalist Samara Joy delivers a velvety timbre and throaty alto that evokes the golden age of interpretive singing spanning the 1930s to the mid-1960s, drawing on the legacies of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Billie Holiday. Her selections center on classic jazz and pop standards. The London-based independent Whirlwind Recordings issued her self-titled debut album to widespread praise in 2021, the year she turned 21. Following appearances at festivals and on tour, she contributed guest performances to projects by the Bruce Harris Quartet and Pasquale Grasso. She then joined Verve Records, where 2022's Linger Awhile earned two Grammy Awards, among them Best New Artist. The companion release Linger Awhile Longer surfaced in 2023, the same year she issued her initial holiday collection, Joyful Holiday. Portrait, an octet recording featuring expansive arrangements, followed in 2024.

Born Samara Joy McLendon in the Bronx in 1998, she is the daughter of bassist, producer, and songwriter Antonio Charles McLendon, who performed with Andre Crouch and the Disciples. Her grandparents Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon directed the gospel quartet the Savettes, based in Philadelphia. She has acknowledged her father's role in acquainting her with vocalists ranging from Betty Carter and Dinah Washington to the Clark Sisters and Kirk Franklin in the gospel realm. Joy began singing in church settings and assumed the role of worship leader at age 16. Exposure to jazz came during her time at Fordham High School for the Arts, where she sang regularly with the jazz ensemble and later claimed Best Vocalist honors at an Essentially Ellington Competition. After encountering Sarah Vaughan's rendition of "Lover Man," she entered the jazz studies program at SUNY Purchase, capturing the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition title in 2019. That victory secured a tuition-free scholarship from the Ella Fitzgerald Foundation. She completed degrees in jazz composition and arrangement. In appreciation, SUNY Purchase jazz studies director Pete Malinverni invited her to record a Fitzgerald song with him at the piano; the pair tracked their contributions independently, resulting in a combined version of "Take Love Easy" that circulated widely online.

Encouraged by producer Matt Pierson, Joy launched a GoFundMe effort that financed the swift recording of her debut album. Working again with Pierson, she assembled guitarist Pasquale Grasso's trio—fellow SUNY Purchase affiliates—alongside drummer Kenny Washington and bassist Ari Roland for the Whirlwind Recordings release. Issued in July 2021 and consisting solely of standards, Samara Joy garnered international recognition, leading to engagements across Manhattan jazz venues and a Newport Jazz Festival appearance that year alongside Grasso, Washington, pianist Ben Paterson, and bassist David Wong.

After signing with Verve, she reassembled the same musicians and Pierson for her label debut. She featured on Grasso's charting Be-Bop album via the June 2022 single "I'm a Mess" before issuing Linger Awhile that September. The project received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, while Joy herself took home Best New Artist. A deluxe edition appeared the next year, joined by Linger Awhile Longer, which presented additional tracks from the original sessions, among them several duets with pianist Gerald Clayton.

Joy also released her debut holiday album, Joyful Holiday, in 2023, supported by pianist Sullivan Fortner together with returning ensemble members guitarist Grasso, bassist Wong, and drummer Washington. The standalone single "Tight," issued ahead of the holiday project, earned the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards. March 2024 brought "Why I'm Here," a collaboration with PJ Morton written for the Shirley Chisholm biopic Shirley. That October saw the arrival of the full-length Portrait, a richly arranged octet album co-produced with trumpeter Brian Lynch. Alongside standards, the set included original lyrics by the singer set to compositions by Charles Mingus, Sun Ra, and additional writers.