Meredith Truax Photo
Samara Joy.
Samara Joy wowed the crowd at College Street Music Hall Wednesday night with her powerhouse vocal stylings as part of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas. A rising star in the jazz world who has already won three Grammys, including 2023’s Best New Artist, she offered 90 minutes of musical magic, calling to mind the classic jazz vocalists who came before her but wholly commanding the stage with her own range and flair for making the personal universal through songs and stories.
A&I Executive Director Shelley Quiala welcomed the hyped-up crowd, mentioning that the show was a part of the festival, even if some of the attendees may not have known that.
“You are now a part of it,” she told them. “You are in it.”
Adding that Joy was one of the “signature performances” of the festival, Quiala noted that “we not only broke a record, we crushed a record,” for single highest grossing performance in festival history. After a land and artist acknowledgement that garnered cheers, Quiala offered more thank yous, noting that this was a “people powered festival” and mentioning two people she wanted to thank in particular: festival founder Dr. Roslyn Milstein Meyer and her love of jazz, and community maven Babz Rawls Ivy, who Quiala called an “unrelenting champion” of Joy and her music. She suggested everyone put away their phones and “use your eyes and ears and minds” to take in the show.
The applause was immediate and profuse when Joy took the stage, along with a seven-piece band, before a note was even played. Joy put her hand to her heart, smiling, and received the love. She began her first song a cappella, singing the lyrics she later explained she was inspired to write to Charles Mingus’s “Reincarnation of a Lovebird.” The lines “only a dream to me you were” and “reality’s a dream and truth is a lie” soared out over the crowd, and after she hit a high note that elicited another burst of applause, the band joined in. When the piece was over she told the elated crowd with a smile, “if you hear whistling, that’s my dad.”
Joy dedicated the next song, “You Stepped Out of a Dream,” to “every one of you.” Her vocals floated up and around the venue, her warmth emanating from her even as she stepped aside for piano and trumpet solos. She reiterated her gratitude to the crowd afterward, noting that she was “just as surprised as anyone that I’m here” as she relayed the story of her journey from graduating three years ago to “embarking on all of this,” which includes two albums and touring across the world.
She offered the title track of that second album, “Linger Awhile,” as a way to reflect upon that, starting slow and soft, and then kicking it up into a more upbeat number resplendent with sax, trumpet, and drum solos.
Joy spoke of learning about and listening to music, and specifically one of her teachers, Dr. Barry Harris, whose song “Now and Then” she wrote lyrics to.
“This song is for someone who is missing, but what they gave to you lives on,” she said. Lyrics such as “space and time won’t keep us apart for I always know you’ll be in my heart” echoed through the space with poignancy as the crowd remained rapt and regaled by Joy’s personal and profound pieces, sung with a perfect balance of strength and sweetness.
Joy and the band picked up the tempo with the next two pieces, “Day by Day” and “Worry Later.” Her vocals hit an almost operatic high, which the crowd received with multiple bursts of applause and shouts of “yeah.” They slowed down into an interlude that led to the song “A Fool in Love is a Clown,” which saw Joy seated and ruminating on loneliness, her vocals and accompanying saxophone so rich and deep that if I had been with my husband, I may have asked him for a slow dance.
Before the next number, “Peace of Mind/Dreams Come True,” Joy once again considered her journey and successes, adding that she “wasn’t expecting any of this to happen” but was “so grateful for it all,” noting the challenges and growing pains that came along with it. She said the song was a reminder to her self “to keep going … step by step.”
“Where do you find your peace of mind?” she sang. “Is it in the places you go or the people you meet?”
An unrecorded Billie Holiday song, “Left Alone,” saw Joy paying homage to the late great vocalist, once again evoking a classic sound with a style all her own, soaked in the promise of what’s to come. She continued with “Tight,” a Betty Carter cover that saw the tempo pick up again and prepped the audience for the final song “No More Blues,” which found Joy telling the crowd that they could dance along if they felt like it.
“Dance is not my line but I have a feeling we have dancers in the house,” she said with a smile. “If one stands up maybe others will follow.” She was correct, as one audience member standing and dancing led to more and more, until nearly everyone in the audience was up and moving (yes, this reporter too, I mean, come on).
But that wasn’t the final song after all, as Joy offered “Guess Who I Saw Today” to the crowd. Everyone remained standing and swaying along, offering an even bigger burst of applause to finally end it all. As the crowd spilled out onto College Street, where the skies were offering a downpour complete with thunder and lightning, Joy remained in their hearts.