BLACK VINYL Samara Joy's fourth album, 2024's Portrait, is a lushly rendered octet showcase for the Grammy-winning singer's broad jazz virtuosity. Co-produced by Joy and veteran trumpeter Brian Lynch at New Jersey's legendary Rudy Van Gelder studios, the album finds Joy backed by her touring ensemble, featuring trumpeter Jason Charos, alto saxophonist/flutist David Mason, tenor saxophonist Kendric McCallister, trombonist Donavan Austin, pianist Connor Rohrer, bassist Felix Moseholm, and drummer Evan Sherman. The result is a little big band album in which Joy's shimmering, ascendent vocals are both framed by and nicely integrated into the octet arrangements. As on her past records, she strikes a pleasing balance between warm interpretations of the American Popular Songbook and jazz standards where she adds her own lyrics, transforming the song into something even more her own. While technically proficient, Joy is never too cool. Her voice is warm and enveloping, and cuts like her lilting take on "Autumn Nocturne" find her further coming into her own style while still evoking icons like Sarah Vaughan and Betty Carter. It doesn't hurt that she has surrounded herself with an equally talented band of instrumentalists who get plenty of room to add their own improvisational voices to the proceedings. Often, as in her blissful opening take on "You Stepped Out of a Dream," she sings the main lyric and then blends wordlessly into the band's arrangement, soaring in rich harmony, before letting a soloist take over. Central to the album is her bold reading of Charles Mingus' classic "Reincarnation of a Lovebird," retitled here with the added "(Pursuit of a Dream)." Where the original 1960 version has a swinging, bluesy quality, Joy transforms the song into a Baroque and noirish vocal sculpture. Central to her arrangement is an extended rubato introduction that she sings unaccompanied, her voice a pristine sine wave of linear harmony that builds to a bright falsetto sparking her band's entrance. Jaw-dropping in its sheer artistry, the performance, as with all of Portrait, underscores just how seemingly limitless Samara Joy's skills are. A1 You Stepped Out Of A Dream 4:35A2 Reincarnation Of A Lovebird 6:28A3 Autumn Nocturne 3:47A4 Peace Of Mind / Dreams Come True 7:06B1 A Fool In Love (Is Called A Clown) 4:48B2 No More Blues 5:46B3 Now And Then (In Remembrance Of...) 6:28B4 Day By Day 4:58
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