Seldom has an album come with more anticipation given young jazz vocalist Samara Joy’s Grammy win as Best New Artist in 2023. Arguably, much of Joy’s meteoric rise was attributable to the traditionalists who had found their new Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughn. Joy burst out with a natural affinity for singing jazz standards to adoring audiences. She could easily have continued down this conventional path of jazz singer fronts trio singing traditional material, refreshing it just enough to gain the appeal of a wide audience. But Joy had greater aspirations as evidenced by this stunning work, Portrait, that goes way beyond what most of us had expected.
Joy becomes fully invested in the process, composing original material, and writing lyrics to well-known jazz standards from some of its greatest innovators such as Charles Mingus and Sun Ra. Her voice becomes like another horn in some of these inventive arrangements, blending in with her octet. Joy partnered with jazz great Brian Lynch as co-producer to deliver these eight compositions, mixing original material with lesser-known standards. She knew exactly what she wanted – all the musicians gathered in one room to replicate the intimacy they had established from performing and reworking the material on the road. This allowed them to record in just two or three takes for each piece in the fabled Rudy Van Gelder Studios.
While Joy’s previous two albums leaned toward the likes of Sarah and Ella, this one honors the traditions of Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, Art Blakey, and personal heroes such as the late Barry Harris. In fact, Joy and Lynch were seeking the same kind of vibe as Abbey Lincoln’s 1961 Straight Ahead which featured such forward thinkers as Eric Dolphy, Booker Little, Roach, Coleman Hawkins, Julian Priester, and more. In other words, Joy is an integral part (‘the fifth horn’) of the band, rather than simply a singer fronting a band. The band is composed of her peers and long-time (three years or so) collaborators – trumpeter Jason Charos, saxophonists David Mason and Kendric McCallister, trombonist Donavan Austin, pianist Connor Rohrer, bassist Felix Moseholm, and drummer Evan Sherman. Joy and McCallister wrote one piece, as did Austin with the band members also contributing arrangements just as Joy adds lyrics to compositions from Mingus and Harris.
She begins with the well-known “You Stepped Out of a Dream,” arranged by Charos, exhibiting scat and vocalese, which were not nearly as conspicuous on her lauded Linger Awhile. One immediately notices how her techniques mesh so beautifully with the arranger’s trumpet solo. One nod to Ella here – that indelible Memorex commercial from the early seventies had the singer’s voice breaking glass. Joy has that same power. Other standards include her inventive take on “Autumn Nocturne,” arranged by McCallister, a most vibrant take on “No More Blues,” where she powers through Jon Hendrick’s lyrics, and the potent closer, “Day by Day,” arranged by Mason. As strong as those though, the strength of the album lies in the unexpected.
She wrote the lyrics for Mingus’ “Reincarnation of a Love Bird,” his tribute to Charlie Parker, making it even more tender than the original as it begins in stunning a cappella before the band joins with brief, punchy solos from each horn. She and McCallister collaborate on a medley, “Peace of Mind/Dreams Come True,” the first part of which is Joy’s first original song, which chronicles the anxieties Joy felt in those post-Grammy moments. They append the tune with Sun Ra’s piece as the collective piece certainly seems to have her channeling Abbey Lincoln, with remarkable vocal range to a roof raising finale. Joy wrote touching lyrics to the late bebop great pianist, Barry Harris’s “Now and Then (In Remembrance Of …”), especially personal as she and McCallister studied with Harris. Another highlight in this album of gems is Austin’s original, “A Fool in Love (is Called a Clown).” The tune is so delectably warm, one might think it is a standard of yesteryear.
Portrait is far more than a jazz vocal album. Joy enthusiastically and democratically leads her superb octet with innovative arrangements and top notch musicianship.
