Samara Joy seemed too good to be true. Wondering if I might be able to expose an elaborate hoax, I bought a $60 seat in the front row for Joy’s October 14 concert at the Folly Theater the day tickets went on sale.
Positioned fifteen feet from the musician named Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards seven months ago, I was able to look for signs of lip syncing or pre-recorded vocals. I’m elated to report that Joy is the real deal.
The only deception I detected involved my occasionally failed attempts to maintain my composure. Dumbstruck by Joy’s intelligent use of her extraordinary voice, I was inclined to leap out of my seat during each song.
Not even the sometimes stuffy swing arrangements rendered by Joy’s youthful seven-piece band dampened my enthusiasm. The retro sound invited comparisons to jazz’s most storied vocalists. Joy just might be the greatest of all time.
She breathed new life into exhausted repertoire. Joy’s readings of "'Round Midnight", “Sweet Pumpkin” and even “Guess Who I Saw Today” were stupendously fresh. The coup de grâce: her vocalese is free of scatting.
The artistic maturity of a 23-year-old who candidly confessed her affinity for romantic comedies and Tik Tok to the capacity audience of 1,000 is mind-boggling. While it’s entirely unreasonable, the real thing has indeed come along.