Nigerian-born, Los Angeles-based jazz vocalist and songwriter, Douye, has unveiled Stay With Me, her sixth album and first of her jazz collection to include original songs.

The 13-track album, which was unveiled June 26, 2026, places three new songs by Douye and Rufus Bordal among 10 Great American Songbook standards arranged and largely co-produced by the pianist George Cables.

Recorded in two complementary settings — standards arranged by Cables at Sear Sound in New York and originals arranged by pianist/arranger Mina Choi at The Village Studios in Los Angeles — Stay With Me frames Douye’s songwriting inside the classic language she has spent years making her own.

For Douye, the originals mark a decisive step. She wanted the new pieces to sit naturally beside the Great American Songbook standards around them, carrying the same melodic directness, lyrical clarity, and emotional purpose. “I’ve always written,” Douye says. “Before I came into the jazz world, I used to do R&B and classic soul, but this time I’m adding originals to one of my jazz albums. I wrote about 10 songs and chose three. I wanted to see if they could blend with the rest of the album, so someone might hear one of them and think, ‘Is that one of those jazz standards I didn’t know?’ That was important to me.”

Douye had never worked with Cables before, but trusted his ear from the beginning.

He arranged and co-produced those tracks, played of the songs, helped assemble the New York band, and gave the songs room to breathe.

For the standards, Cables appears with bassist Sean Conly and drummer Jerome Jennings, joined on select tracks by saxophonist Craig Handy and trumpeters Joe Magnarelli and John Bailey.

When Douyé brought Cables a pool of possible material, they independently gravitated toward many of the same choices. “George is a legend,” Douyé says. “His take on the music is timeless; it reminds me of the old jazz sound. Everything he did just sat right. I never felt I had to say, ‘Take this out,’ or ‘Maybe we should do it another way.’ I really appreciate his musicianship, his mastery, and what he brought to this album.”

Pianist/arranger Mina Choi helps Douye bring the originals fully into focus. Introduced to Douyé through Cables, she arranged two of the originals, co-arranged the third with Douyé, and co-produced all three songs with her at The Village Studios in Los Angeles.

The original songs feature Choi with bassist Edwin Livingston, drummer Clayton Cameron, and saxophonist Barclay Moffitt, with trumpeter Kye Palmer appearing on two of the three tracks. “I listened to Mina’s work and immediately fell in love with her sound,” Douyé says. “The way she puts things together, her arrangements, all of that — I have a lot of love and respect for her.”

Douye’s road to Stay With Me began in Lagos, Nigeria, where her father, LandyYouduba, introduced her to jazz and encouraged her to sing.

After moving to Los Angeles, she studied voice at Musicians Institute in Hollywood and met British songwriter Terry Shaddick, best known for co-writing Olivia Newton-John’s Physical.

Their collaboration shaped 2012’s Journey and led into 2014’s So Much Love, an R&B/soul collection that continued her songwriting path while keeping her African roots in view.

With 2017’s Daddy Said So, Douye turned directly toward jazz with a 14-song standards album whose title honoured her father’s request that she sing jazz. 2019’s Quatro (Bossa Nova Deluxe) connected bossa nova, samba, American jazz, and African roots, while 2023’s The Golden Sèkèrè placed sèkèrè, talking drum, and African rhythmic language inside a Great American Songbook program featuring Sean Jones, Lionel Loueke, and Buster Williams.

After that album’s propulsive, percussion-and-groove-fueled energy, Stay With Me turns inward. “Compared to my last album, it’s like night and day,” Douyé says. “The Golden Sèkèrè had a lot of energy and groove. This one is more like, let’s relax, sip on a nice drink, and listen to songs of life stories.”