Samara Joy Featuring The Pasquale Grasso Trio SATURDAY, SEPT. 11
Saturday, Sept. 11 3:30 p.m.
With a voice smooth as velvet, 21-year-old Samara Joy’s star seems to rise with each performance. Winner of the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, Joy recorded her debut record with The Pasquale Grasso Trio. Performing with Joy is Pasquale Grasso (guitar), Ari Roland (bass) and Keith Balla (drums). Growing up in the Castle Hill section of the Bronx, music was a pervasive presence in Joy’s life. Her paternal grandparents, Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, led the wellknown Philadelphia-based gospel group The Savettes. Her home was filled with the music of gospel and R&B artists including Stevie Wonder, Lalah Hathaway, George Duke, Musiq Soulchild, Kim Burrell, Commissioned and many others. Joy’s first exposure to jazz was at Fordham High School for the Arts, where she performed regularly with the jazz band, eventually winning Best Vocalist at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition. However, jazz wasn’t really her focus until the time came to choose a college. Wanting to attend a state school close to home, she picked SUNY Purchase, gaining acceptance into their acclaimed jazz program. The school’s faculty includes many jazz masters including Pasquale Grasso and drummer Kenny Washington, who both appear on Joy’s debut recording. Since then, she’s performed in many of the great jazz venues in New York City including Dizzy’s Club, The Blue Note and Mezzrow, in addition to working with jazz greats such as Christian McBride, Pasquale Grasso, Jon Faddis, Kirk Lightsey, Cyrus Chestnut and NEA Jazz Master Barry Harris.
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