 |
| Samara Joy. |
Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse, March 20,
2025.
Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS OAM.
She is just 25 years of age, four years out of college, and
already with five Grammy Awards to her name, Samara Joy has the jazz world at
her feet.
Compared to the likes of Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughn and Betty
Carter, Samara Joy pays tribute to all those great singers, and while she
claims to be still a student, she is already her own original, who will no
doubt inspire generations of singers as did those predecessors
The possessor of a warm, silky, crystalline voice, perfect
pitch and an engaging personality, Joy lived up to her name and reputation, as
she thrilled her audience with a stunning program of re-imagined jazz standards
and original songs.
Her accompanying band consisted of seven virtuoso jazz
musicians in Connor Rohrer (piano), David Mason (alto sax/flute), Kendrick
McCallister (tenor Sax), Jason Charos (trumpet), Donavan Austin (trombone),
Evan Sherman (drums) and Paul Sikivie (bass), who appeared to breathe with Joy
as she fascinated her audiences with her own virtuosic vocal stylings embedded in meticulously wrought
musical arrangements contributed by band members.
 |
| Samara Joy. |
Beginning her program with a spiritual, Joy followed with Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday” in an arrangement by her trombonist, Donavan Austin, before moving on to Sam Coslow’s "Beware My Heart".
Immediately striking was the attention she gave to ensuring
that the intention of the lyrics remained clear through clever phrasing and
diction, even during her most complex vocal stylings.
Joy introduced each of her songs with an engaging anecdote, generously
standing aside to admire, with the audience, the superb instrumental solos
inherent in the musical arrangements.
Re-imaginings of familiar standards like Harry Ruby and Bert
Kalmar’s “Three Little Words”, Nacio Herb Brown and Gus Kahn’s “You Stepped Out
of a Dream” and Carmen McRae’s “Little Things Mean A Lot” were sprinkled
through the program, as well as Joy’s own composition “Now and Then” written
with Barry Harris, and Thelonious Monk’s “Don’t Worry Now”.
But it was a particularly arresting arrangement of a song, “Left
Alone”, written by Billie Holiday but never recorded by her, and stunningly
rendered by Joy and her musicians, that will remain the most memorable highlight
for this reviewer, of a concert in which every offering was a revelation of the
extraordinary poise and musicianship that has already won this artist such
acclaim.
Samara Joy continues her Australian tour performing in Penrith (Oct 23), Sydney (Oct 24), Melbourne (Oct 26),
and Perth (Oct 30).
Images provided
This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 21st October 2025.
