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Joanie Samra
Growing up in Paterson, New Jersey, Joanie Samra always knew music would be an important piece of her life. Her love of song seemed to begin at the moment she could speak. From the early years of elementary school right on through college, she often demonstrated her talent for singing, which was expanded through dance, piano and voice lessons. Her performance experience continued to grow through her involvement with high school and college musicals and weekend bands. Sometime after her college graduation, Joanie’s calling changed as she developed an interest in educating children with special needs.
After moving to Pennsylvania, staying home to care for her three children and returning to her profession as a special needs teacher, Joanie’s passion for singing was still very much alive. Joining a community chorus in 2003 sustained her enthusiasm until November of 2007 when she became a vocal student of jazz pianist, Jesse Green. Throughout their association, he produced a great many custom arrangements of her favorite songs and subsequently provided her with opportunities for live performances; all critical toward the development of her own unique style. In November of 2011 Joanie and Jesse released a CD of twenty-one unforgettable songs entitled Serendipity.
In August of 2015, Joanie began her association with jazz vocalist Nancy Reed in order to gain additional performance skills derived from a female perspective. Throughout this experience, Nancy was responsible for encouraging some risk taking on Joanie’s part in an effort to gain more spontaneity. This was accomplished by varying the rhythm of the vocals as well as shortening and/or increasing the length of certain notes. During this period, an idea for another CD took shape and Still Me was conceived, produced by Nancy, featuring pianist Skip Wilkins, guitarist Spencer Reed, bassist Evan Gregor and drummer/percussionist Daniel Gonzalez. Released in June of 2016, this was indeed another labor of love as Joanie continued her musical journey.
Always looking to refine her vocal skills while absorbing more understanding of the jazz approach to singing, Joanie was pleased to further her instruction under the guidance of jazz pianist Skip Wilkins in September of 2016. Since that time he has been instrumental in increasing her collection of jazz standards, as well as assisting her with finding suitable keys, improving her ability to use vocal color and enabling her to cultivate numerous, interesting endings for many of her selections. The development of these skills is typically focused on a specific set of tunes, compiled for a particular performance, where Joanie receives an added bonus of Skip’s extraordinary talent as an accompanist. And so the journey continues.
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