Samara Joy

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, earning her a Grammy and NAACP Image Award this year for Best Jazz Album. 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.

A Bronx native who began singing gospel in her church choir, Joy burst onto the international jazz scene after winning the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. Her Verve debut Linger Awhile earned her the 2023 Grammy that launched her into global acclaim. 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 Down Beat 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, which took home Grammys for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Jazz Performance in 2025.

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