Few figures in jazz history have experienced the kind of success that vocalist Samara Joy has, especially at such a young age. Still only 25, she leads a career that can safely be called sensational.

To date she’s received five Grammy Awards, including one for Best New Artist that has given the committed jazz singer the profile of a pop celebrity and made her a steady presence on network TV. With millions of likes on TikTok, Joy has helped new, young generations of music fans discover timeless American music. Her performance credits read like a list of the most legendary venues and events in all of jazz and R&B, among them the Newport, Monterey and Montreal Jazz Festivals, the Apollo, the Village Vanguard and Jazz at Lincoln Center. 

Throughout Joy’s rise, her press has been glowing, to say the least. Of Linger Awhile, her breakout Verve Records debut, DownBeat commented, “With this beautiful recording, a silky-voiced star is born.” The New York Times called her a “silky-voiced rising star,” while NPR named her a “classic jazz singer from a new generation.” One sold-out concert at a time, she’s earned a reputation as a masterful interpreter of jazz standards and a rightful heiress of the sound, technique and charisma that defined her jazz heroines — including Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, Abbey Lincoln and Carmen McRae. Remarkably, she didn’t truly immerse herself in the jazz tradition until college.

A native of the Bronx, Samara Joy became entranced by classic R&B as a child and cut her teeth as a singer in her church’s gospel choir. And while her family history is deeply musical — her grandparents helmed the Philadelphia gospel group the Savettes, and her father, the musician and songwriter Antonio McLendon, has produced, composed and arranged his own astounding original work — she didn’t delve into the jazz tradition until college at SUNY Purchase. During her studies there she won the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, which introduced her to the larger jazz scene as a rising star to watch. She was heard, by audiences and critics alike, as a masterful interpreter of jazz standards and a rightful heiress of the sound, technique and charisma that defined her jazz heroines — including Vaughan, Betty Carter, Abbey Lincoln and Carmen McRae.

Joy released her self-titled debut on the Whirlwind label in 2021, followed a year later by Linger Awhile, her breakout Verve debut, of which DownBeat said, “With this beautiful recording, a silky-voiced star is born.” The album earned her a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album in addition to a headline-making win for Best New Artist. A deluxe edition of the album was released, as well as the EP A Joyful Holiday. Her new Verve album, Portrait, which Joy co-produced with the veteran trumpeter/bandleader and multi-Grammy winner Brian Lynch, showcases the intimate, soulful chemistry she’s developed with her touring band. Portrait also spotlights her burgeoning gifts as a lyricist, in ingenious arrangements that meld her thoughtful words with music by Charles Mingus, Sun Ra and her late mentor Barry Harris.