Review: BBC PROMS: THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK AND BEYOND WITH SAMARA JOY, Royal Albert Hall

The scheduling of certain Proms seems to be a controversial topic in some quarters, with certain factions expressing a desire for the first week of the season to be entirely classical - and then start dipping into different genres once the dust has settled. That’s not the way things are being done this year, however, with jazz newcomer Samara Joy making her Proms debut in the second concert of the season, and hot on the heels of back-to-back Grammys success.

An immediate thing to note is how her presence managed to draw in a far more diverse audience than the average Prom, which can only be a good thing. They may be attending as jazz (or specifically Samara Joy) fans, but the experience of your first Prom does leave you wanting more - so this could help pave the way for a rejuvenated audience in the years to come.

The Samara Joy Octet was joined on the stage by the BBC Concert Orchestra, led by Nathaniel Anderson-Frank and conducted by Miho Hazama, also making her Proms debut. This blend of musical worlds is a great part of the Proms; for this event, having the orchestra present added a touch of theatre to proceedings, particularly thanks to their large string section. 

As promised by the title, plenty of the so-called ‘Great American Songbook’ (a mixture of 20th century American jazz standards, show tunes and other popular numbers) graced the setlist, from “Loverman (Oh Where Can You Be)” and “Day by Day” to “Stardust” - plus it ventured slightly beyond with a Thelonious Monk medley of “Worry Later” and “Ugly Beauty”, as well as Duke Ellington’s “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good”.

The audience was also treated to a couple of original compositions, with tenor saxophonist Kendric McCallister’s wordless “Five Stages of Love (Love’s Impression)” and Joy’s co-written number “Peace of Mind/Dreams Come True”.

The absolute highlight of the event, however, came early on in the form of Erroll Garner’s “Misty”. It was a goosebump-inducing listen that showed off the incredible range of Joy’s celestial, soulful jazz voice; that she managed to express such emotion through those lyrics was quite astonishing.

At times the wall of sound was a little overwhelming, and whilst scat singing is an important part of jazz performance, it was possibly a little overdone during the night as a whole. A few of the Octet’s solos were also a little on the self-indulgent side, at times almost to the point where you didn’t need to be told which one of them had arranged a particular piece - sometimes less is more. The bright phone screens that felt omnipresent also added to the sensory overload, but that’s obviously not something the band could control.

On the whole, it felt like Samara Joy’s Proms debut was a real success, and another achievement unlocked on her meteoric rise in the music world.

The BBC Proms run at the Royal Albert Hall until 13 September