Samara Joy to Headline Ralph Pucci’s 10th Annual Jazz Night
The special evening raises money for the leading arts and education nonprofit, Jazz House Kids
On Wednesday, February 25, Jazz House Kids and Ralph Pucci will host their 10th annual benefit concert that supports the New Jersey-based arts and education nonprofit. To mark the monumental occasion, Jazz House Kids Artistic Director and Grammy Award winner Christian McBride will be joined by special guest and fellow Grammy Award winner Samara Joy at Ralph Pucci’s Manhattan showroom.
Joy’s connection to the organization dates back to 2018, when she served as a teaching assistant at the Jazz House Summer Workshop in the vocal program. “Samara Joy is that once-in-a-generation kind of artist who reminds you why you fell in love with jazz in the first place,” says McBride. “Her voice carries the wisdom and raw emotion of some of the most iconic jazz voices in history, while unmistakably fresh with effortless swing. She’s not just special—she’s part of the lineage.”
Tickets for the one-night-only event, which has previously welcomed guests including Sting, Norah Jones, and Gregory Porter, and has raised more than $2,000,000 over the last nine years, are available in several tiers. An online auction for items including a live sculpting with Michael Evert and a live Rubén Toledo portrait experience is open through 10 p.m. the evening of the event.
“As a gallery, we have always strived to discover and nurture new talent, and our collaboration with Jazz House Kids enables us to deepen this quest at a grassroots level,” says Pucci. “Music can transform lives, and every young person should have access to it if they want to. We’re so grateful to Christian and Samara for helping us create a truly one-of-a-kind event that is intimate, unique and incredibly important.”
The evening, always a festive mix of fundraising, dancing, and delectable bites, supports Jazz House Kids’s mission to create avenues of access, learning, career development, and community building through tuition assistance, year-round classes and programs, music lessons, and instruments, and more.