The young American jazz singer Samara Joy, winner of two Grammy Awards in February including that of revelation of the year, will receive the Jazz Vocal Prize from the Jazz Academy on Sunday in Paris.
The 23-year-old African-American will have previously given two concerts in France (in Meudon and Vincennes, in the Paris suburbs, Wednesday and Saturday), where she will return to several festivals this summer, including Jazz in Marciac on July 27.
A new vocal jazz sensation, Samara Joy released her second album in October,
Linger Awhile
, distributed by the Verve label, on which she sublimates standards including
Misty
,
Round Midnight
and
Someone to watch
.
"This second album confirms all the good that we could think of her"
, declared François Lacharme, president of the Jazz Academy.
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“Samara Joy is a bit the best of three worlds: you have a bit of the timbre of a young Betty Carter, a form of ease and ingenuity, an enormous vocal flexibility which comes more under the influence of Ella
Fitzgerald
, and a way to make your voice bend, to be very playful with the melody that makes you think of Sarah Vaughan”
, he adds.
The young woman grew up in the Bronx, New York, in a family of gospel and soul musicians.
"She listened, and you can hear it, gospel, rhythm'n blues, soul music"
, analyzes François Lacharme.
"She has enormous ease, has a fairly wide range and, for her, the difficult intervals are like a hurdle race without hurdles"
, compares the one who already sees her as
"a candidate for the throne"
.
Samara Joy, who also won the Grammy for Best Singing Jazz Album for
Linger Awhile
, won a Sarah Vaughan International Singing Competition award in 2019 after studying at Fordham High School for the Arts and Purchase. College of New York University.
After graduating, she became a star for musical performances on social networks, including TikTok.
She has toured Europe and the United States to her credit, notably at the Monterey Jazz Festival.
