Portrait (2024)

"Samara Joy's fourth album, 2024's "Portrait", finds Joy backed by her touring ensemble. 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. She strikes a pleasing balance between warm interpretations of the American Popular Songbook and jazz standards where she adds her own lyrics. While technically proficient, Joy is never too cool. 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. 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." (AllMusic; 4,5 uit 5 sterren)