No longer a rising star, 25-year-old jazz singer Samara Joy is fully risen.
Recently, the five-time Grammy Award–winner sat down with KNKX for a conversation about her rich musical education and vision for the future ahead of her Sept. 29 Seattle appearance at the Moore Theatre.
Joy’s musical journey began close to home, among the gospel music royalty in her own immediate family. Her father was a gospel songwriter, touring alongside gospel icon Andrae Crouch. Her grandparents helped lead the well-respected gospel ensemble The Savettes.
Like Nina Simone, Jimmy Rushing, Thelonious Monk, and many other musical legends, Joy received an early musical education in the hallowed halls of the Black church, an institution at the center of Black culture and music since the late 18th century.
"It was a very valuable form of ear training early on, being able to listen to somebody harmonize and try to pick your part, or hearing somebody sing a riff and trying to imitate that exactly, and not even just the notes, but the feeling behind it," Joy said.
One of the most important lessons Joy said she learned in church was the ability to exercise a level of artistic restraint, and to always consider her audience.
“Just because you can sing in your higher range doesn't mean you need to be doing it all the time. It serves a particular purpose from service to service, or night to night, or song to song."
Following her participation in church and high school jazz band, which she calls the “pre-catalyst to the catalyst” of her passion for jazz, Joy moved on SUNY Purchase where she honed her technical aptitude.
The university program was Joy’s first entry point into serious jazz education. There, Joy found her first jazz influences: Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Betty Carter. Additionally, Joy’s college experience became the garden from which many beautiful musical relationships would seed and bloom.
From peers to professors, Joy built an exciting network of artists and mentors. These included veteran jazz musicians Barry Harris, Jon Faddis, Alexis Cole, and Kenny Washington, who assisted Joy in the creation of her debut album, Samara Joy (2021), and her breakthrough second album, Linger Awhile (2022), while she was still attending the program.
The pursuit of growth remains top of mind for the young artist, as she adjusts to the highs and lows of her induction into the spotlight and the school of life.
“Who knew that the four years was only the beginning,” Joy said. “Not towards Grammys, but towards developing your mind, developing your technique, and developing your musicality, so that you can just be as great as the musicians that we listen to."
Joy returns to the Seattle this month after a 2024 appearance at Benaroya Hall, and a stunning performance for the Earshot Jazz Festival in 2023. She had just become the first jazz artist in over a decade to win Best New Artist Grammy award and confidently set out with a brand-new touring ensemble. At that time, Joy and her band were unaware of the seminal nature of the Seattle performance.
“That was the first gig I ever did with my octet,” Joy said, adding that it was the group's first time performing many new arrangements together.
"Seattle was so warm. And now we've spent the past two and a half years since then cultivating a sound and crafting a soft of chemistry together, and we sound like a completely different ensemble," she said. "We move as a group."
A version of that octet joined Joy on her most recent album Portrait, which marks her first credit as a co-producer alongside trumpeter Brian Lynch. As the title suggests, the album is a self-portrait, capturing Joy's current artistic autonomy and vision.
“With this album, I wanted to choose the cover. I wanted to choose the concept. I chose the photographers. I chose the artist who was painting the cover and the title and the musicians and the songs and all of that. I wanted to be involved in every part of it and not be afraid to be," she said.
In addition to co-producing Portrait, Joy co-wrote original music for the album, including “Peace of Mind / Dreams Come True” with Kendric McCallister, and added her own lyrics to the late Barry Harris’ composition “Now and Then (In Remembrance Of…).”
The project further showcases her arranging skills with a fresh take on Charles Mingus’ “Reincarnation of a Lovebird (Pursuit of a Dream),” and features several other original compositions alongside jazz classics. It reflects both her reverence for tradition, and her confidence in shaping her own artistic identity.
Portrait demonstrates the full arc of Joy's evolution, from a church-trained singer to a conservatory-educated artist, and now a mature creative voice fully engaged in every aspect of her music. Her upcoming Seattle show will highlight this growth. As she performs timeless standards and innovative originals with the emotional immediacy that has become her hallmark, it promises to be a powerful and celebratory evening.
