Six-time Grammy winner Samara Joy brings her septet to Hill Auditorium on Friday, Oct. 9, for the first jazz show of the University Musical Society's 148th season.

Joy sold out her UMS debut in 2024 after winning the Grammy for Best New Artist. The Bronx native has since added five more Grammys, according to Grammy.com, including Best Jazz Vocal Album for her 2025 record Portrait. Her second album, Linger Awhile, reached No. 1 on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart in 2022, according to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Tickets start at $30 plus fees. Student tickets run $15 to $20. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. and runs about 90 minutes with no intermission. UMS recommends ages 12 and up. Tickets are available at ums.org or by calling 734-764-2538.

Joy grew up in a musical family. Her grandparents led the Philadelphia gospel group the Savettes, and her father, musician Antonio McLendon, toured with Andraé Crouch, according to her official website. She won Best Vocalist at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington program before studying jazz at SUNY Purchase, where she won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Competition while still a student.

In a UMS-published interview with Questlove posted Sept. 22, Joy named Carmen McRae as the singer she most closely patterns her style after. McRae "just kind of gets right to the heart of a song," Joy said.

She also cited Betty Carter's live album The Audience with Betty Carter as the record she has committed to memory. The album features drummer Kenny Washington, who was Joy's college professor. Joy has since performed with Washington herself.

Joy's appeal stretches well beyond traditional jazz audiences. In a PBS NewsHour profile in early 2025, she described the crowds showing up at her concerts: "There are people who are like, this is my first time ever going to a jazz concert … in life. You are my first and I saw you on TikTok."

The Oct. 9 concert is the opening jazz event of UMS's 26/27 season. Hill Auditorium is at 825 North University Ave.