Efg Jazz Festival - Samara Joy

On 22 November 2026 at Royal Festival Hall, London, Samara Joy steps into the EFG Jazz Festival with a set grounded in the jazz standard and the pulse of gospel. Bronx-born and raised in a family of church musicians, she found her way to jazz at SUNY Purchase, shaping a sound informed by Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Her approach is acoustic and uncluttered, leaning on supple phrasing, clear melodies and an easy sense of swing that suits both mid-tempos and hushed ballads.

Since winning the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2019, Samara Joy has traced a steady path on record: a self-titled debut in 2021, then Linger Awhile in 2022 on Verve with Pasquale Grasso, Ben Paterson, David Wong and Kenny Washington, followed by Portrait in 2024. On stage, she keeps the lyric at the center and lets the band breathe, connecting the Great American Songbook with gospel inflections and touches of soul without showmanship. Heard alongside musicians like Emmet Cohen or Julius Rodriguez, she brings that same balance to the concert hall: attentive to tradition, open to the moment, and focused on telling the song.