St. Cecilia Music Center (SCMC) presents multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning jazz vocalist Samara Joy in concert on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. With her GRAMMY® Award-winning and chart-topping album, Linger Awhile, 24-year-old Samara Joy makes her case to join the likes of Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday as the next jazz singing sensation. The New York Times praised the “silky-voiced rising star” for “helping jazz take a youthful turn,” while NPR All Things Considered named her a “classic jazz singer from a new generation.” In February 2023, Samara Joy took home two GRAMMY® Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album and the auspicious distinction of Best New Artist! The next year at the GRAMMY® Awards in 2024 she added one more win for Best Jazz Performance with her 2023 single “Tight”.
St. Cecilia Music Center Executive & Artistic Director Cathy Holbrook says, “Having Samara Joy at St. Cecilia Music Center is very exciting! Those who love jazz will be in for a transformative evening with Samara, this young new star of the international jazz scene.”
Tickets for Samara Joy are sold out. To be added to the waitlist, see scmcgr.org or call 616-459-2224.
In addition to Samara Joy on March 26th, two additional concerts in April will finalize SCMC’s 2023 – 2024 spectacular season featuring:
- Grammy Award Winning artist Marc Cohn performing on April 11 at 7:30 p.m. Marc Cohn is rooted in the rich ground of Americana music – folk, rhythm, blues, soul, and gospel. As a wonderful storyteller, his music weaves vivid, detailed, often drawn from life tales that evoke some of our most universal human feelings: love, hope, faith, joy, and heartbreak.
- The final performance of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center this season on April 18 at 7:30 p.m.Featuring the finest chamber musicians in the world from Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, they will perform some of the greatest works, from 18th century to the modern age, written for violins, violas, and cellos. From Beethoven’s earliest all-string work to Francaix’s effervescent trio, this program will offer a beautiful collection entitled “String Magic”.
Tickets for Marc Cohen and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center “String Magic” concert are available at scmcgr.org or call 616-459-2224.
St. Cecilia Music Center has recently been selected by readers of Grand Rapids Magazine as a nominee for “Best Local Music Series”!
Bio – Samara Joy
Samara Joy released her self-titled debut album in 2021 and was subsequently named Best New Artist by JazzTimes. Her second album, Linger Awhile, released in 2022 reached number one on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. At the 2022 Grammy Awards, she won the awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best New Artist for Linger Awhile. Her 2023 single “Tight” won Best Jazz Performance at the 2023 Grammy Awards ceremony.
With her Verve Records debut, Linger Awhile, 24-year-old Samara Joy makes her case to join the likes of Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday as the next jazz singing sensation recorded by the venerable label. Her voice, rich and velvety yet precocious and refined, has already earned her fans like Anita Baker and Regina King, appearances on the TODAY Show and millions of likes on TikTok — cementing her status as perhaps the first Gen Z jazz singing star. On Linger Awhile, Samara performed a slew of classic standards several times older than she is through her timeless, irresistible sound.
Samara is relatively new to jazz. Growing up in the Bronx, it was music of the past — the music of her parent’s childhoods, that she listened to most. She treasures her musical lineage, which stretches back to her grandparents Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, both of whom performed with Philadelphia gospel group the Savettes, and through her father who is a singer, songwriter and producer who has toured with gospel artist Andraé Crouch. “Sometimes I catch myself when I’m singing — I’m like, ‘Whoa, that was a dad moment’,” Samara quips. Eventually, she did follow in the family tradition, singing in church and then with the jazz band at Fordham High School for the Arts, with whom she won Best Vocalist at JALC’s Essentially Ellington competition. That led to her enrolling in SUNY Purchase’s jazz studies program, where she fell deeply in love with the music.
Though she’s young, she relishes the process of digging through the music’s history and learning new standards. “I think maybe people connect with the fact that I’m not faking it, that I already feel embedded in it,” Samara says. “Maybe I’m able to reach people in person and on social media because it’s real.” The gatekeepers of the jazz world tend to agree. In 2019, she won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, and she’s since performed with legends like Christian McBride and Bill Charlap. Legendary late pianist Barry Harris was a particularly important influence and mentor. She dedicated the project in part to Harris’ memory saying, “You inspired me as well as many others with this fire for teaching and playing that couldn’t be dimmed by anything or anyone.”
Her newest album Linger Awhile is just one more step for the ascendant vocalist, who is spending the year touring on increasingly larger stages — still shocked to be performing in front of thousands who hang on every word. “I’m still very much a student, even though I’ve graduated,” Samara says. “So, this is only the beginning… there is much, much more to come.”
Spectacular Jazz Series Single Tickets
Samara Joy
Tuesday, March 26, 2024 – Sold Out
A section $70
B section $50
C section $30
Acoustic Café Folk Series 2023/2024
Marc Cohn
Thursday, April 11, 2024
A section $65
B section $50
C section $35
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Single Tickets
String Magic
April 18, 2024
A section $50
B section $35
C section $20
