Vocalist Samara Joy has signed with Verve Records and will release a full-length album with the storied jazz label this year.
The 22-year-old singer has already earned critical acclaim from The New York Times and NPR while making fans out of Anita Baker, Regina King, LaKeith Stanfield and many others.
The Bronx native was the 2019 winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition.
Joy’s new album Linger Awhile finds her updating beloved songs with a modern twist, including classics by George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk, Fats Navarro and more.
The album’s announcement was accompanied by the lead single Can’t Get Out of This Mood, previously popularized by the likes of Nina Simone and Frank Sinatra.
“I am deeply honoured to be a part of a roster that has included so many of my greatest vocal inspirations: Sarah, Billie, Ella and Betty, to name a few,” Joy shared in a statement about joining Verve Records. “Being a part of this lineage is humbling, and I will continue to use all of the inspiration gleaned from them to pursue my own unique journey as a singer and an artist.”
Linger Awhile quickly adds to the rising star’s upward trajectory, arriving only a year after her self-titled debut album.
Here’s the track listing for Linger Awhile:
- Can’t Get Out of This Mood
- Guess Who I Saw Today
- Nostalgia (The Day I Knew)
- Sweet Pumpkin
- Misty
- Social Call
- I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)
- Linger Awhile
- ‘Round Midnight
- Someone to Watch Over Me
Samara Joy’s Linger Awhile will be released Sept. 16, 2022, via Verve Records.