# Samara Joy brings it home for the holidays: Video, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2023/01/05/samara-joy-brings-it-home-for-the-holidays-video-photos/
- Published: 2023-01-05T00:02:32+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Heading into this holiday season, there doesn’t seem to be much more that Samara
Joy could ask for. The 23-year-old singer has been nominated for two Grammy Awards,
in the categories of Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album.**

![Samara Joy: Linger Awhile](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5186fb7/
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uploads-album-samarajoy-lingerawhile.jpg)

Those nominations add to the well-deserved acclaim that greeted _[Linger Awhile](https://samarajoy.lnk.to/LingerAwhile)_,
Joy’s major-label debut on Verve Records, which has also landed on “best of the 
year” lists at the _New York Times _and _Slate _(so far). This summer she won accolades
for her first appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival, in the midst of an exhausting
tour schedule that took her across Europe and the U.S.

_Linger Awhile _is the album that cements Joy’s place as a new generation’s torchbearer
for the jazz vocal tradition, a banner pinned on her as soon as she won the Sarah
Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2019. It’s a standards date that
showcases the young vocalist’s take on familiar material, and while her influences
are readily evident –Vaughan chief among them, with Carmen McRae not far behind –
she’s not beholden to them. Joy’s voice is rich and molasses-smooth, her phrasing
intriguing enough to discover fresh ideas in well-worn material and reveal glimpses
of her obvious virtuosity without ever falling into empty pyrotechnics.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Joy says, speaking of her stellar year. “When you’re so passionate
about something like singing, you want people to love it but you’re unsure. Putting
it out there was a risk, and I’m grateful that it paid off. It encourages me to 
do more.”

![Samara Joy performs at the 2022 Newport Jazz Festival, which spanned from July
29 to July 31, in Newport, R.I.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b66a334/
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Samara Joy performs at the 2022 Newport Jazz Festival, which spanned from July 29
to July 31, in Newport, R.I.

Speaking recently by phone from North Carolina, where she was about to join the 
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Holiday Tour alongside Dianne Reeves, Joy said 
she looked forward to spending some time with her family for the holidays. In her
case, that doesn’t mean a respite from performing just yet: as the youngest member
of the musical McLendon family, she’ll share the stage with several relatives for“
A Joyful Holiday!” tour, which brings her to the Ardmore Music Hall on Dec. 21.

The show will be something of a homecoming for the McLendons. While Joy grew up 
in the Bronx, N.Y., her grandparents, Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, raised their
family in Philadelphia. They led the gospel ensemble The Savettes, while Joy’s father,
Antonio McLendon, was a producer for artists including Gladys Knight and Donna Summer,
and toured with gospel singer Andraé Crouch.

Joy’s father and grandfather, along with uncle Laurone McLendon and cousins Tiera
Lovell Rowe and Alana Alexander all came together to record “O Holy Night” as a 
single, released earlier this month. It arrived on the heels of Joy’s previous holiday
single, a version of “Warm in December” as inviting as a crackling fire.

The Ardmore Music Hall show will feature Joy with her father and cousins, and a 
special appearance by her 92 year-old grandfather, who still resides in West Philly.
They’ll be backed by a fine band including pianist Shedrick Mitchell, bassist Eric
Wheeler and drummer Charles Haynes.

![Samara Joy](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9283b62/2147483647/strip/
true/crop/4171x6256+0+0/resize/880x1320!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.
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