MoNDAY, January 16, 2023

Verve at Winter Jazzfest

Samara Joy, Brandee Younger, Julius Rodriguez

Iconic labels Verve and Impulse present today’s brightest jazz stars at Winter Jazzfest 2023

(le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10012

7 PM

$30 ADV | $35 DOS

SAMARA JOY

22-year-old Samara Joy makes her case to join the likes of Sarah,
Ella, and Billie as the next mononymous jazz singing sensation recorded by the venerable label. Her voice, rich and velvety yet precociously refined, has already earned her fans like Anita Baker and Regina King, appearances on the TODAY

Show and millions of likes on TikTok — cementing her status as perhaps the first Gen Z jazz singing star. On Linger Awhile, Samara will introduce that massive audience to a slew of classic standards several times older than she is through her timeless, irresistible sound.

Brandee Younger

A leading voice of the harp, Brandee Younger recently made history at the 2022 Grammy Awards as the first Black female solo artist nominated in the Best Instrumental Composition category for her song “Beautiful Is Black." The mesmerizing track is from her 2021 critically well-received major label debut album, Somewhere Different, that also received a 2022 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Jazz Album – Instrumental. Over her career Ms. Younger has performed and recorded across countless genres with artists including John Legend, The Roots, Lauryn Hill, Common, Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, Ron Carter, and Charlie Haden. Additionally her original composition “Hortense” was featured in the Netflix Concert-Documentary, Beyoncé: Homecoming and in 2019 the tireless musician was selected to perform her original music as a featured performer for Quincy Jones and Steve McQueens’ “Soundtrack of America.”

Ms. Younger’s ability to seamlessly inject the harp into arrangements and venues where it has historically been overlooked is a testament to her deep love for and exemplary command of the instrument. In addition to performing, she is on the teaching artist faculty at New York University and The New School College of Performing Arts in New York City.

JULIUS RODRIGUEZ

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Julius Rodriguez has crafted his artistry inside a range of sounds and styles. At 24, the Westchester native bonds a deep sense of history with an appetite for the unknown. He performs regularly as a leader across New York City, and his contributions on piano, drums, synthesizer and electric bass appear on a diverse roster of recordings, including releases from Kassa Overall, Carmen Lundy, Brasstracks, Morgan Guerin, J. D. Walter and Damien Sneed, among other critically acclaimed genre-defiant voices. Sharp instincts for space and phrasing, and reverence for melody elevate Julius’ expression from virtuoso to true artist. In a few short years, he has garnered peer attention and critical praise from such institutional outlets as JAZZIZ magazine, The New York Times, Paste and Vanity Fair, and has earned opportunities to perform alongside some of the music’s most distinctive artists, including Wynton Marsalis, Keyon Harrold, Victoria Canal, Ben Williams, A$AP Rocky, Meshell Ndegeocello, Macy Gray, Braxton Cook, Laurin Talese and the late and legendary Roy Hargrove.