Samara Joy, the flight of a voice

2023-06-03 11:56:39

When you see her in the Paris offices of her Universal record company, she’s a tall teenager in a gray hooded sweatshirt tapping away on her phone. The meeting is timid. A reserved young girl, Samara Joy speaks softly, seated in a corner of the studio. But after the interview, she warms up her voice before an hour-long live radio show dedicated to her by FIP, and another person emerges, impressively talented and natural.

Samara Joy sings and everything lights up, everything becomes more beautiful. Her voice unfolds with fabulous ease, soars lightly without losing its depth. Never since Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan had a vocalist shown so much relaxation and allure. Samara, like these great ladies of jazz, should make a name for herself, even if her surname corresponds very precisely to her: Joy, joy, that’s what music lovers will feel this summer when they discover her on the stages of Juan-les- Pins, Vienna, Montpellier, Marseille, Marciac, Paris…

Vaughan, Ella, Betty Carter and Abbey Lincoln as a model

The New Yorker sings as she breathes, always. “We grew up surrounded by music by our family with my four siblings in the Bronx. My father played bass and sang, my grandparents performed with their gospel choir, The Savettes. I used to sing at school and in church”, she says. She listens to a lot of music. “I harmonized my voice with the one I heard on the radio and I went at the top of my lungs. I liked that! Singing for fun made me happy”she smiles.

The young girl began studying jazz at age 15. Her teachers get carried away, she worries. “I had decided that I was not strong enough to make music my job. I didn’t think I had my place, I didn’t feel special enough to attract the public. But finally, yes! » After her studies in New York, she won the Sarah-Vaughan International Singing Competition in 2019. Precisely, it is from “the Divine” that she is most inspired among the great ladies of jazz: “I borrowed from each: Vaughan, really, first, and then Ella, Betty Carter, Abbey Lincoln…” Their style, their sound forge his own.

“A huge facility”

“Everything became amazing after I graduated, when I posted songs on social media”, says Samara Joy. His videos go viral, his brilliance calls for superlatives. “She has enormous ease, has a fairly wide range and, for her, the difficult intervals are like a hurdle race without hurdles”ignites François Lacharme, president of the Jazz Academy, which awarded him the 2023 vocal jazz prize in Paris.

He hears in her “a bit of the timbre of young Betty Carter, a form of ease and ingenuity, an enormous vocal suppleness which rather comes under the influence of Ella Fitzgerald, and a way of making her voice bend, of being very playful with the melody that makes you think of Sarah Vaughan ».

“Revelation” and “Best Vocal Jazz Album” at the Grammys

The prodigy has already won two American music awards, the Grammy Awards for “revelation of the year” and “best vocal jazz album” for her second disc, Linger Awhile (Decca/Verve). She appropriates monuments: Misty d’Erroll Garner, Someone to Watch Over Me of the Gershwins or Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk. And swing happily on lesser-known titles like Can’t Get Out of This Mood or Nostalgiawhich she co-wrote.

Everything happened very quickly: her meeting with Beyoncé, which she recounts with wonder, her commitments to major jazz festivals, extended tours, six European countries in less than a month, the United States in all sense. She no longer sees her family too much, but calls them very often. “They miss me, but they are happy for me. I am very supported. My 92-year-old grandfather called me to tell me he was very proud of me. It’s a blessing! »

“Be who you are, don’t let anyone tell you who you should be”

Star at 23, Samara Joy refuses to be afraid of fame. “It’s a bit scary, yes, because very fast. But it’s not like doing something different or something I can’t do. Singing is a habit with me, it’s natural, so I can handle the challenges, the pressure.”she believes.

She learns to filter calls, to avoid overload. “The job is to protect yourself. » On the motto: “Be who you are, don’t let anyone tell you who you should be. » As a performer, she also dreams of being a composer. ” This is just the beginning. I will write my music”Samara Joy said. And, to see her so serene, we believe her.

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The beautiful summer of vocalists in French festivals

In addition to Samara Joy, star of the summer who will share the bill with the immense Gilberto Gil in Marseille (July 25), the vocalists are making a strong comeback at the jazz festivals of 2023. We will find on the stages of France two legends, Dee Dee Bridgewater (with The Amazing Keystone Big Band) whose duo Precious Thing with Ray Charles forever remembered, and soul singer Mavis Staples, civil rights icon. Among the stars of the new generation, we will hear Norah Jones and Melody Gardot, as well as a host of splendid singers, including Robin McKelle, Cécile McLorin Salvant and Youn Sun Nah.