Interview, Samara Joy on Sarah Vaughn and the thrill of live performance

Fresh from winning the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Jazz Competition, rising American jazz vocalist Samara Joy released her self-titled debut album on Whirlwind Recordings earlier this month. Only recently having graduated from her studies at her college’s jazz program, Samara is already on the radar of many musicians, with things progressing quickly for the young singer. I caught up with Samara to discuss her early inspirations, the process of putting together her debut album, and her love of live performing.

Starting with your background, it seems like you had quite a supportive upbringing as far as music goes. I believe your grandparents were performers, too? Are there any particular early memories that were quite important to you in hindsight?

My grandparents had a choir that started way before I was born; it was called The Savettes, and they led that choir. I think it originally started as a way of them saving up money - as in, the ‘save-its’ - and eventually it became a proper choral group that travelled around Philadelphia playing churches. I share my birthday with my paternal grandmother, so we’d go over there all the time and celebrate both our birthdays, singing to her. For Thanksgivings we’d all get together and sing - we all live in different areas between New York, Philly, Delaware and Maryland, so it would be the only time we could get together and perform.

You’ve always had music around you, from the sounds of it. You won the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Jazz Competition in 2019, which helped put you on the map from the sounds of it. Did things take off immediately for you, or was it something more gradual?

It was definitely pretty crazy at the time; immediately after being announced as the winner I was getting interviewed backstage, and suddenly I was on the jazz radar. Things gradually started progressing from there; I had a spot I was getting ready for at the Newport Jazz Festival that came with the winnings of the competition, but I won in November 2019 and obviously 2020 halted any sort of progress being made. It’s definitely something I’m very grateful for, though, and now it’s something I can also say alongside releasing my debut album.

Was Sarah Vaughan herself a big inspiration for you early on, or was she a later discovery?

Definitely early on, but ‘early on’ for me is only about 4 years ago. I didn’t have as much of a foundation in jazz, so it wasn’t until I got to Purchase College - the school I’m now graduating from - that I really discovered her. Once I started learning standards, and different versions of those standards, I completely fell in love with her style and her way of interpreting a melody. I remember trying to imitate it - and I still do! - she was one of the first vocalists that I came across when starting school that really had an impact on me.

What’s the response to your self-titled debut been like so far?

It’s been really great, I’ve been getting a lot of people messaging me with their favourite songs, people sharing it around, sending me sweet comments… people are so nice! Even looking at the comments under my social media posts people are leaving messages like “this is so beautiful” or “I’m listening to this every day”. I was in Italy when it was released, playing at the Umbria Jazz Festival on the 9th, then I came home on the 12th, and on the 15th we had the release party at the Jazz Gallery in New York. I’d never been before, but the response was great there, too.

We went to Philly for the next couple of days for sold-out shows, two sets a night, then on that Sunday we went to Cape May, New Jersey for this little outdoor festival. I was busy that whole weekend! I was a little worried at first, thinking “the album’s released, now what?”, but people have been actually coming out and showing their support so it’s been great so far. I’m grateful to be working and developing as a singer and musician so soon after graduating - there was no real transition between college and now; I got right to work, school’s over! But I’m really thankful for all these wonderful opportunities.

You have guitarist Pasquale Grasso and his trio accompanying you on this album - what’s your history like with him, is he a regular collaborator of yours?

He came to do a masterclass in my sophomore year at college, and he was doing a demonstration on how to accompany a vocalist. One of my teachers called me up to be part of the demonstration and that was our first time playing together - me and my friends would go to see him at this residency he had on Monday nights at this club in New York. Sometimes I’d sit in, sometimes I’d be too intimidated, but he was always really nice and he’s obviously an amazing musician. I’m glad I wasn’t collaborating with a stranger on this first project of mine, that it was someone I had a bit of history with, and we’ve been able to play together a lot since.

In terms of the songs themselves - how did you go about choosing what was going to appear on the album?

It was a bit of a process. I had to pull from what I’d already made a connection to over the past three years or so - thinking about what I’d been listening to through my freshman and junior year, songs that had really stuck with me. I wanted to have songs I’d really connected with, songs that I could give an authentic perspective on. I really dug through my history, for example ‘Only a Moment Ago’ and ‘If You Never Fall In Love With Me’ are songs I found when I was a freshman; I remember finding a video of Dinah Washington singing ‘Only a Moment Ago’ and Carmen McRae singing ‘If You Never Fall In Love With Me’, and I even played those two songs at my very first gig, so I wanted them to be part of the first recording I ever made, too. The producer and I put together some options, a whole playlist of songs, and narrowed it down from there. But in the end, they’re all my choices, all songs that I know I have a personal connection to.

In some of the album’s promotional material you mention that of course, these are all very old songs that may be more familiar to older listeners. Is there part of you that wants to bring this very traditional, storied style of music to younger listeners? (Of course, you and I know that young people do listen to jazz!)

I didn’t really have access to that kind of music until recently, so part of me would like other young people to at least have the chance to experience it, since it’s not really ‘popular music’. I was really attracted to it because of my friends’ passion for it - I remember thinking “wow, you guys have been listening to this stuff all the time? Where have I been? I’ve gotta catch up!”. In a similar way, I wanted to share what I can with other 21-year-olds like me who may not have the chance to hear it on the Top 100 or whatever’s popular right now, because it’s still good music. To me, at least, it’s very healing music to listen to.

What does the rest of your year look like?

We’ve got a couple of gigs lined up. I really want to get as much experience as I can playing with my peers as well as new people; I’ve heard about some people from Juilliard, for example, who have just graduated and are around my age that I want to try and play with. I like the idea of mixing up the circles of people I play with, before I settle into a couple of ‘core’ groups. I think the rest of my year is going to be about playing, getting experience, and continuing to grow at a steady pace - and the same goes for the years to come.

Take a listen to Samara's self-titled debut, out now on Whirlwind Recordings...