Hill Auditorium
Samara Joy
$12-20 student tickets available
At 24, Samara Joy is already setting the music world on fire, winning the 2023 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album, as well as the Best New Artist nod — only the second time in Grammy history that award has been bestowed upon a jazz musician.
Hailing from a family of musicians in the Bronx with roots in gospel, Joy began her journey with jazz at age 17, winning the vocal honors at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition. She went on to study with the great Barry Harris and win the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition.
Joy gets inside each song she sings, breathing nuance and life into standards. Her UMS debut falls on the 100th birthday of Sarah Vaughan, one of the great American jazz singers to whom she is often compared.
Set List
Reincarnation of a Lovebird (Charles Mingus, lyrics by Samara Joy)
You Stepped Out of a Dream (Nacio Herb Brown, lyrics by Gus Kahn)
A Fool In Love Is A Clown (Donavan Austin)
Sweet Pumpkin (Ronnell Bright)
Linger Awhile (Harry Owens)
A Kiss From You (Benny Carter)
Tight (Betty Carter)
Peace of Mind / If Dreams Come True (Benny Goodman, Irving Mills, and Edgar Sampson)
Now and Then (Barry Harris)
Chega de Saudade (“No More Blues”) (Antônio Carlos Jobim, lyrics by Vinícius de Moraes)
Encore:
Guess Who I Saw Today (Murray Grand, lyrics by Elisse Boyd) / Lately (Stevie Wonder)
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