Welcomed by KNKX. Samara Joy is bringing back old school jazz, making it her own with her stirring soulfulness and undeniable sparkling talent. In recognition of her stardom, Samara Joy won a 2024 Grammy for Best Jazz Performance ("Tight"), plus two 2023 Grammys (Best Jazz Vocal Album and the auspicious Best New Artist award), and following that win she sold out her Seattle show with Earshot Jazz in March of 2023. 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 will introduce that massive audience to a slew of classic standards several times older than she is through her timeless, irresistible sound. The New York Times praised the “silky-voiced rising star” for “helping jazz take a youthful turn” while NPR All Things Considered named her a “classic jazz singer from a new generation.” Joy is still relatively new to jazz, but she relishes the process of digging through the music’s history and reimagining new standards in a way that enlivens and enriches them. This holiday season, Samara released her first collection of holiday music, A Joyful Holiday EP. The 6-song collection of seasonal favorites is an extension of her latest album Linger Awhile and features a similar cast of jazz musicians—Pasquale Grasso on guitar, David Wong on bass and Kenny Washington on drums – plus Sullivan Fortner on piano.