Albums of the Year 2024: Samara Joy - Portrait

From placing first in the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Jazz Competition in 2019 to being a triple Grammy winner, Samara Joy’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric. Joy’s third album, Portrait – an astonishingly good collection which saw the vocalist, songwriter, arranger and bandleader reach ever greater heights of artistic expression – is my Album of the Year.

The splicing together of “Peace of Mind/Dreams Come True”, the first co-written by Joy and tenor saxist Kendric McCallister, the second a song from Sun Ra’s felicitously titled album Sound of Joy, was one of this year’s most transcendent vocal performances.

From the energising blast of “I Feel A Song Coming On” to the most extraordinarily beautiful cover of the Bacharach/Costello masterpiece, “This House Is Empty Now”, the music-making on Claire Martin’s Almost In Your Arms, which reunited her with the all-Swedish trio that featured on the superb 2019 album, Believin’ It, was never less than sublime.

With sumptuous arrangements, sparkling duets, an alluringly structured song list, and playing and singing that immediately took up residence in your heart, Milton + esperanza was an unforgettable, life-affirming album and a loving paean to musical communion.

Conceived, recorded, mixed, mastered and released over an eight-day period in August, vocalist Kurt Elling and pianist Sullivan Fortner’s stealth release Wildflowers Vol. 1 saw these willing musical funambulists create a world which you were happy to lose yourself in.

The music-making on Eliane Elias’s Time and Again was so in the pocket, the familiar Brazilian rhythms so seasoned, the empathy between the players so palpable, that it called to mind Claude Debussy’s famous quote about music: “It’s not even the expression of a feeling, it’s the feeling itself.”

The multi-award-winning singer-songwriter Zara McFarlane’s Sweet Whispers: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan was an inspired and well-crafted homage to the incomparable artistry and pioneering spirit of the "Divine One" in the centenary of Vaughan’s birth.

To feel a balsamaceous blast of grandmaternal love, head straight for “Root of Mercy” from Lizz Wright’s Shadow, an exquisite new chapter in the vocalist and songwriter’s musical journey, while The Sisterhood – a brilliant ode to female torchbearers – will surely prove to be one of the brightest jewels in Sarah Jane Morris’s varicoloured discography.

Odyssey, from the tenorist, bandleader and composer, Nubya Garcia, represented an inspiring sonic leap forward, from the pulsating modal workout of “The Seer” to the dramatic strings only coda appended to the epic title track.

Three More Essential Albums of 2024

Milton Nascimento & esperanza spalding Milton + esperanza

Claire Martin Almost In Your Arms

Lizz Wright Shadow

Musical Experiences of the Year

Highlights this year included two wondrous album launches. Appearing with her exceptional Swedish trio at Ronnie Scott’s for the London launch of Almost In Your Arms, Claire Martin's sublime storytelling and audacious song reinventions were complemented by wonderful accompaniment from pianist/arranger Martin Sjöstedt, bassist Niklas Fernqvist, drummer Daniel Fredriksson, plus guest musician and producer, James McMillan. Backed by an exceptional quartet featuring Jim Mullen on guitar, Barry Green on piano, Simon Thorpe on bass, and Bobby Worth on drums, the launch of Elaine Delmar's Speak Low at Soho’s Pizza Express Jazz Club felt like a distillation of 50 years of jazz artistry. On a more personal note, meeting and playing with the wonderful local South Korean musicians at a traditional Irish music session in The Craic House, Seoul, was a complete delight.

Track of the Year

“Peace of Mind/Dreams Come True” by Samara Joy 

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Listen to “Peace of Mind/Dreams Come True” by Samara Joy