Samara Joy at Thalia Hall

Wednesday night might be the middle of the week, but on November 19, 2025, Thalia Hall in Chicago was sold out—Samara Joy was in town.

The Grammy Award winner opened with a few tracks from her album, Portrait (Verve Records, 2024). The whole album was recorded in just three days, but, as Samara put it, the group has been performing these songs for 2.5 years, so they have had enough rehearsals. Out of 16 recorded songs, only eight made it to the album, so we can expect a few singles coming out as well.

Samara also performed "Now and Then (In Remembrance Of... )" in honor of jazz legend Barry Harris, whom she remembers warmly as one of her teachers, and in honor of all the people we have lost in our lives. Harris wrote the original composition, and she added her own lyrics.

Throughout the concert, Samara made sure to shout out the instrumentalists who had arranged or composed the pieces they were performing; she explained that she puts a special focus on collaboration and making sure that everybody shares a creative vision. We got to hear that vision not only through her beautiful, rich voice and effortless technique, but also through her bandmates' many talented solos.

Samara closed the show with the first verse of "Goin' to Chicago," which she combined with "My Mother Told Me." A well-deserved standing ovation followed.

Samara Joy was joined by Connor Rohrer, Jayla Cee (bass), Jason Charos, David Mason (saxophone), Kendric McCallister and Evan Sherman.