After seeing Grammy winner Samara Joy perform for the first time back in February, my first thought was “Someone raised this young lady right”.
Yes, she is an incredible singer with an irresistible sense of swing and inspiring sense of clarity and dynamics, wowing the Palm Springs audience with songs from her first two albums.
But there was a guilelessness about her that won me over. In the world of Archie Comics, she come across as a Betty, not a Veronica, in that there is a sweetness and homespun charm about her that she can’t hold back from displaying.
Fast forward ten months and the same thought comes into my brain, as even the introductory background music to the concert reveals good upbringing, as the sounds of Duke Ellington’s “Nutcracker Suite” got the locals into the Christmas mood with some hip harmonies.
This Friday evening, Ms. Joy (giving good tidings of comfort as well) revealed the secret of her success, and it’s no secret, having come from time eternity: family and faith.
I mean, what artists creates an entire concert around the Christmas season anymore? Oh, they may throw in a few songs about Santa here and there, but that’s about it. Not Samara Joy.
Like Saint Augustine, she sees no dividing line between the sacred and secular; it’s all one world, and Samara has been brought up that there is no divide between church and swing.
Yes, she opened the evening with her hip rhythm section of Eric Wheeler/b, Charles Haynes/dr and Sedrick Mitchell/p-B3 , mixing cozy rapport with rich vocal swoops on “Warm December” a delicate read of Stevie Wonder’s “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me” and a suave skating over Haynes’ brushes during “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.
But it’s when she brought her extended family (yes, literally) on stage that we saw the real Samara. Intruding her dad Antonio McLendon, Uncle Laurone McLendon and cousins Thomas Niblack and “Lovey” Rowe, Samara gave us a glimpse into her home life of faith and singing, displaying their church life in gorgeous harmony with Mitchell’s B# on a sparkling O Holy Night” while “havin’ church” on a gospel drenched “Hark The Herald Angels Sing/ He Is Exalted”. The rapport between family members was like a Christmas dinner, with Thomas even joking “It’s ok to sing about these things here, isn’t it” before Dad and bass backed Daughter on a reverent “Mary Did You Know”
But with all family gatherings, there’s also fun, and Tom got the crowd into a festive mood with an R&Bish “This Christmas” and dad tapping into his inner Donny Hathaway on “The Christmas Song”. Al of this went on with appropriate backdrops of stained glassed window, decorated trees or cozy home fires burning. Where’s the egg nog?
The family let “the kid” Samara display her jazz popularity with her two hits “Can’t Get Out of This Mood” and “Tight” with Samara cooing on the former and ricocheting with Haynes on the latter. Her style is reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald, but with a dash of sorghum and definitely baptized by the Spirit.
As for an encore, what else can you expect but a richly harmonized “Benediction” that perfectly set the tone as to the reason for the season.
As a journalist, I have wanted to do an interview with Ms. Joy, but as a father of two girls and grandfather of five, my inclination is now, “Forget Samara; let’s have a chat with dad!!”As the singing hostess declared during the show, what is central to us is family, fellowship and faith”. All three were abundance, giving further testimony as to the celebration of the King of Kings.
Upcoming events from UCSB include Renee Fleming 02/01, Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary Celebration 02/08, Taj Mahal and Sona Jobarteh 02/22 and Tommy Emmanuel 03/09