“She’s a legend in the making, so incredibly talented and just 26 years old.”

That was Ralph Pucci lauding praise over Samara Joy, the six-time Grammy Award-winning jazz singer who performed elegantly at the Ralph Pucci International showroom Wednesday night.

Once a year, Pucci transforms his sprawling gallery for luxury home furnishings, lighting and art on 18th Street in Manhattan into a jazz club to benefit the Jazz House Kids music school. It’s always an iconic, celebrated performer who accompanies virtuoso bassist and composer Christian McBride in song and conversation. McBride is married to Melissa Walker, president and founder of Jazz House Kids.

Wednesday’s event began with student trombonist Lyla Baker performing “Mack the Knife,” and then singing “Just the Two of Us” which got many in the crowd of 200 joining in on the chorus.

Then Samara Joy took the stage, in front of the two large portraits of Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, painted by Rebecca Moses, symbolically grouping Joy among some of the greatest jazz artists. (Moses has several portraits of female jazz greats displayed at Pucci.)

Along with McBride on bass and pianist Cameron Campbell, Joy was backed by the school’s Louis Armstrong Ensemble and Big Band. She sang jazz standards “Chelsea Bridge,” “Don’t Go to Strangers” and “Sophisticated Lady,” among other songs.

Talking with McBride, Joy said she came from a musical family. Her grandparents helmed a Philadelphia gospel group, and her father was a musician and songwriter. “It was a very nurturing environment where you developed ears without knowing it.” She recalled listening to The Temptations and The Spinners but never listened to jazz until she went to college at SUNY Purchase. “That’s when I fell in love with the genre. I never heard Sarah Vaughan before, but when I did, I said to myself, that’s what I want to do.”

Though a multi-Grammy winner who was also profiled on “60 Minutes,” Joy said, “In my mind I haven’t made it yet. I just look in the mirror and say, girl, you got a lot to learn. There’s always room to grow.”

Wednesday’s show marked the 10th consecutive year that Pucci, a jazz lover himself, has staged the school benefit, raising a total of $3.2 million, including $550,000 from this latest event. More is expected to be raised through a silent auction running until Sunday, offering a stay at Chateau La Coste in the south of France, a session with Pucci’s master Michael Evert carving your bust, a portrait sitting with Rebecca Moses, and Ruben Toledo painting your portrait at his home with the Jazz House Kids playing to set the mood.

Others that have performed on Pucci’s stage are Sting, Gregory Porter, Wynton Marsalis, Diana Krall, Laurie Anderson, John Pizzarelli, Esperanza Spalding, Angélique Kidjo, and Norah Jones.

“There was really love in the air,” said Pucci after Joy completed the show. “Samara is so incredibly talented and gifted and so humble, and that’s what made it really nice.”