Italicised or not, speaking colloquially or not, The Divine One is never far away on Portrait directly. The Brown-Kahn standard ‘You Stepped Out of a Dream’ that goes back to the 1940s was on Sarah Vaughan’s 1960 album, something of an alpha and omega symbolically on this latest from Samara Joy.
And the Grammy winning US singer does not disappoint. She shares much in common with Vaughan.
She adds her own twist on Charles Mingus’ ‘Reincarnation of a Lovebird’ by adding lyrics to the 1957 classic from The Clown and even offers her own take on some Sun Ra.
Lightness of touch and easy flow
But the avant-garde is a world away here. And at a time that sports something of a soft spot and great affinity for classic vocals among the TikTok loving new jazz fans dipping their toes in such sounds for the first time – we have Lady Gaga and Laufey to thank for that in the mass media market perhaps – the timing of Portrait is uncanny and welcome.
There’s a lightness of touch and sense of ease at all times in the Grammy winning singer’s style (real name: Samara Joy McLendon, who will be 25 next month, is from New York City).
Other singers this year – notably a very credible, and that bit more contemporary sounding, homage from English jazz, soul and reggae influenced singer Zara McFarlane on Sweet Whispers – have also immersed themselves in Sarah Vaughan’s spirit and deep musicianship.
The album as it progresses through the eight succinct numbers – there are few detours for more extended improvisations, it’s not that kind of record and it would be jarring if there were – becomes more intimate and certainly the sense of joie de vivre is strong particularly on the Stordahl-Weston/Sammy Cahn 1940s number ‘Day by Day’ first sung by Frank Sinatra.
But again with that song it’s Sarah Vaughan’s delicately languorous version conducted and arranged by Quincy Jones found on Vaughan and Violins we turn to in this centenary year of the birth of the singer people called Sassy.
Timbrally and in terms of quiet revelation Joy has a lot in common with the Vaughan bebopified approach without at all being too in awe of a hugely influential sound.
For mists and mellow fruitfulness
Portrait is extremely classic in the sense of a deep study of not only the technique but the mood and emotions the classic jazz singers of the 1940s, 50s and 60s particularly Vaughan contributed.
The version of the Myrow/Gannon song 1940s song ‘Autumn Nocturne’ first introduced by Claude Thornhill and his Orchestra – and covered by Cassandra Wilson (surely another influence on Joy’s sound although Joy is nowhere nearly as overtly bluesy as Wilson) in the 80s on Blue Skies we liked best of all for sheer feeling and a certain life to it. But some songs we skipped over more – the will-o’-the-wisp delights of the Jobim-Hendricks classic ‘No More Blues’ has been covered a little too much.
An octet affair, with Joy are trumpeter Jason Charos, altoist/flautist David Mason, tenorist Kendric McCallister, trombonist Donavan Austin, pianist Connor Rohrer, bassist Felix Moseholm and drummer Evan Sherman. It’s very much a group effort.
Charos, McCallister, Mason, Sherman and Austin contribute arrangements and the album was recorded by Maureen Sickler at Van Gelder’s in Englewood Cliffs.
Two years on from Linger Awhile this new album was co-produced by Joy with trumpeter Brian Lynch.
Our favourite Joy album – it still is!- is her introductory self entitled Samara Joy album for London jazz indie Whirlwind issued during the Lockdown years in 2021 which was a revelation at the time. The production values of this latest may be so much higher and the sound a whole lot fuller and it’s certainly a pleasure. But that original album still stands up extremely well too even if Linger Awhile which in some ways was even more retro than this latest got all the attention. Go figure on the ever mysterious reliably fickle nature of fame.