Samara Joy
Thu, Sep 28 -
Sun, Oct 1, 2023
Tickets may be purchased on-line or by phone.
Night of show seating typically available.
No Discount ShowVouchers, promotional certificates, donated gift certificates, student/military discounts, senior discounts, children under 12 free discounts and 2 for 1 cards are not applicable for this show. *Exchange Vouchers are accepted for all shows
Dimitriou's Jazz Alley presents 2023 double Grammy-winner Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album 23-year-old Samara Joy. Band members are: Samara Joy (vocals), Evan Sherman (drums), Connor Rohrer (piano), Michael Migliore (bass), Jason Charos (trumpet), David Mason (alto sax), Kendrick McCallister (tenor sax) and Donavan Austin (trombone). Show times Thursday thru Sunday at 7:30pm. Doors open at 6:00pm Thursday and 5:30pm Friday - Sunday. This show is supported by KNKX.
artist info
With Grammy-winning Verve Records debut, Linger Awhile (2022), 23-year-old Samara Joy makes her case to join the likes of Sarah, Ella, and Billie as the next mononymous jazz singing sensation recorded by the venerable label. Her voice, rich and velvety yet precociously refined, has already earned her fans like Anita Baker and Regina King, appearances on the TODAY Show and millions of likes on TikTok — cementing her status as perhaps the first Gen Z jazz singing star. On Linger Awhile, Samara introduces that massive audience to a slew of classic standards several times older than she is through her timeless, irresistible sound.
Since Samara’s GRAMMY wins, Linger Awhile has reached #1 on Amazon Best Sellers, Billboard Jazz, Pandora Trendsetters, iTunes and Amazon’s digital-music and CD-sales, and more. Samara has garnered over 2 billion views on TikTok, and her tour dates all over the world are selling out, including highly-anticipated headline shows at NYC’s Village Vanguard. Simultaneously, outlets like Vulture are declaring “jazz is back, baby” and notable artists like Sam Smith are calling her “my favorite female voice right now.” Jimmy Fallon said “unbelievable… she is my jam!” before Samara’s late night TV debut performance on The Tonight Show.
Samara is still relatively new to jazz. Growing up in the Bronx, it was music of the past — the music of her parent’s childhoods, as she put it — that she listened to most. She treasures her musical lineage, which stretches back to her grandparents Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, both of whom performed with Philadelphia gospel group the Savettes, and runs through her father, who is a singer, songwriter and producer who toured with gospel artist Andraé Crouch. “Sometimes I catch myself when I’m singing — I’m like, ‘Whoa, that was a dad moment’,” Samara quips. Eventually, she did follow in the family tradition, singing in church and then with the jazz band at Fordham High School for the Arts, with whom she won Best Vocalist at JALC’s Essentially Ellington competition. That led to her enrolling in SUNY Purchase’s jazz studies program, where she fell deeply in love with the music.
Though she’s young, she relishes the process of digging through the music’s history and learning new standards. “I think maybe people connect with the fact that I’m not faking it, that I already feel embedded in it,” Samara says.
A concept that will likely be foreign to Samara’s TikTok following is that of vocalese, a jazz technique showcased across Linger Awhile. “Nostalgia (The Day I Knew)” was the product of a jazz transcription class she took with trumpet master Jon Faddis at SUNY Purchase, in which she took down Fats Navarro’s solo from the original 1947 recording and wrote her own lyrics to that melody — inspired, she quips, by the teen romance novels she was reading. She went through the same process with “I’m Confessin’,” combining that song’s original lyrics with her own, set to Lester Young’s 1952 solo. Especially for a contemporary listener, hearing how seamlessly Samara transforms these instrumental lines into breezy lyrics is astounding.
This release is just one more step for the ascendant vocalist, who will spend the rest of 2023 touring increasingly large stages — still shocked to be performing in front of thousands who hang on every word. “I’m still very much a student, even though I’ve graduated,” Samara says. “So this is only the beginning… there is much, much more to come.”
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This performance requires payment at the time your reservation is made. Exact seats/tables may be purchased when you make your online reservation or you can call Jazz Alley at 206-441-9729 for assistance. All purchases are nonrefundable/nonexchangeable. Vouchers, promotional certificates, donated gift certificates, student/military discounts, senior discounts, children under 12 free discounts and 2 for 1 cards are not applicable for this show.
Preferential seating is given to our dinner guests. All sets are all ages. Dimitriou's Jazz Alley does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, color, national or ethnic origin. Jazz Alley is a seated night club, not a dance hall, every person admitted has an assigned fixed seat. Dining is optional.
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