In 2018, before Samara Joy became the three-time Grammy-winning superstar jazz vocalist she is today, she sent me a Facebook message. She was studying at SUNY Purchase back then and wanted to reach Ronnell Bright, Sarah Vaughan's exquisite piano accompanist in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I had tracked him down and interviewed him for JazzWax in 2008. [Photo above of Samara Joy by AB+DM]
Unfortunately, I wasn't opening Facebook messages at the time and didn't discover it until I did start reading them in 2024. Ronnell had been ill for a number of years before his death in 2021 and had stopped playing piano entirely earlier. Our JazzWax conversations took place between 2008 and 2016. In 2019 Samara won the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition while at SUNY Purchase.
When I finally saw Samara's message this year when she sent me another, we corresponded. Of course, if her message had arrived between 2008 and 2016, I would have loved to have put them together. She was just coming up during those years. Samara has a deep passion for Vaughan, and you can hear it in her voice, which is all her own. I last posted about Samara in 2022 (here).
Now she's out with a new album, Portrait (Verve). What's most exciting about Sarama's voice is her spectacular range. She has Sassy's deep notes and can soar up to a high note and hold it for an eternity. Co-produced by Samara and multi-Grammy winner Brian Lynch, the album features an interesting mix of song choices that compels Samara to stretch. And stretch she does.
Included are three smartly-arranged jazz-pop standards (You Stepped Out of a Dream, No More Blues and Day by Day) and a couple of jazz works. But the high points for me are the penetrating ballads she had a hand in writing—lyrics to Charles Mingus's Reincarnation of a Lovebird, lyrics to Barry Harris's Now and Then (In Remembrance Of…), and music (with Kendric McCallister) and lyrics for Peace of Mind / Dreams Come True.
On each song, Samara brings a fresh take with nuances and hard-hitting vocalizing. She has a dreamy voice that takes you back to the jazz greats of the 1950s. But if one song on the album sums up her brilliance, I'd have to go with Peace of Mind / Dreams Come True. Wow!
The tracks:
- You Stepped Out of a Dream (Nacio Herb Brown and Gus Kahn)
- Reincarnation of a Lovebird (Charles Mingus/music and Samara Joy/lyrics)
- Autumn Nocturne (Joe Myrow/music) and Kim Gannon/lyrics)
- Peace of Mind / Dreams Come True (Samara Joy and Kendric McCallister)
- A Fool In Love (Is Called A Clown) (Donavan Austin)
- No More Blues (Antonio Carlos Jobim/music and Jon Hendricks/lyrics)
- Now and Then (In Remembrance Of…) ( Barry Harris/music and Samara Joy/lyrics)
- Day By Day (Axel Stordahl and Paul Weston/music and Sammy Cahn/lyrics
The players:
- Samara Joy - vocals
- Jason Charos - trumpet, flugelhorn
- David Mason - alto saxophone, flute
- Kendric McCallister - tenor saxophone
- Donavan Austin - trombone
- Connor Rohrer - piano
- Felix Moseholm - bass
- Evan Sherman - drums
The arrangers:
- Jason Charos (You Stepped Out Of A Dream, No More Blues)
- Kendric McCallister (Reincarnation Of A Lovebird, Autumn Nocturne, Now And Then)
- David Mason (Dreams Come True, Day By Day)
- Evan Sherman (Peace Of Mind)
- Donavan Austin (A Fool In Love)
Special praise for Maureen Sickler, who recorded the album at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. The sound is terrific!
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Samara Joy's Portrait (Verve) here (to buy) and here (to listen).
JazzWax clips: Here's No More Blues...
Here's Now and Then (In Remembrance Of…)...
