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Lucy Yeghiazaryan

As a young immigrant who has brought the real richness of her heritage together with her love for what is truly American, Lucy beautifully sounds out the best expression of the American dream. Amid the cacophony of voices raging over immigration, this jazz vocalist sounds a very refreshing note. Since arriving from Armenia sixteen years ago at age 12, Lucy has enriched American jazz with a voice that is clear and strong, and with the release of her debut album Blue Heaven (Cellar Live Records 2019) critics and musicians agree that a new vocal force has arrived on the scene.

Lucy Yeghiazaryan grew up in post-Soviet Armenia and began playing the violin at the age of seven, when she also discovered her father's once-contraband collection of jazz records. Since electricity was intermittent, Lucy could only eke out short periods of listening, but the collection of jazz standards so captivated young Lucy that years before she ever learned to speak English, she began singing the tunes by meticulously mimicking the sounds and styles of the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.

This early dedication to music led Lucy to the Armenian capital of Yerevan, where she performed, entered vocal competitions, and joined the National Armenian Jazz Orchestra. Then, soon after Armenia's economic collapse in 2000, Lucy's parents brought her and her three sisters to America. Lucy also brought her passion for jazz to the States, where she applied for and received a full scholarship to New Jersey's Jazz for Teens program and happily became part of the local jazz community.

After college, where she studied world history, Lucy, still driven by music, moved to New York City to pursue a career as a singer, and in a few short years she has won the respect and accolades of the elders at the epicenter of the jazz world. As Tom Reney, award winning New England Public Radio host of Jazz a la Mode puts it "Lucy Yeghiazaryan is one of the most impressive jazz singers I've heard in a long time. Lucy's got what Louis Armstrong would call extra ingredients: A rich and expressive voice, a supple sense of swing, and a commanding stage presence". Veteran NYC saxophonist Grant Stewart says" Lucy has it all, an incredible tone, time that drives the band and that other "something" that makes you say this is the real thing" World renowned trumpet player Joe Magnarelli has called her a"breath of fresh air" on the scene in New York, where she can be found playing at Smalls, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Smoke and The Kitano. Lucy also leads a regular Tuesday session at Mezzrow Jazz Club and has a monthly residency at the historic Showman's Jazz Club in Harlem with her organ trio.

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Album Review

The Harry Allen Orchestra: With Roses

Read "With Roses" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Harry Allen is a tenor saxophonist's tenor saxophonist with an elegant tone and swinging style in the manner of Scott Hamilton, Lester Young or Ben Webster. He has a well-rounded discography of over 70 releases as a leader and many others as a sideman. Over the course of his prolific career, Allen has appeared with the likes of Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, James Taylor and guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli and John Pizzarelli. In this release, With Roses, Allen applies his considerable ...

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Recording

Lucy Yeghiazaryan and Vanisha Gould

Lucy Yeghiazaryan and Vanisha Gould

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

One of the most compelling and ambitious jazz vocal albums of the year is In Her Words, a new recording by vocalists Lucy Yeghiazaryan and Vanisha Gould. Like a number of jazz albums this year, this one joyfully steers clear of the American songbook—a dusty and lazy resource for true jazz singers of 2021. Six of the 12 songs are by Gould and one is by Lucy (who arranged five). The remaining five songs are by other composers, including Nobody's ...

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Interview

Interview: Lucy Yeghiazaryan

Interview: Lucy Yeghiazaryan

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

I discovered Lucy Yeghiazaryan by accident a month or so ago. I was flying through Facebook before turning in for the night and there she was, singing away. I was most struck by her 1950s phrasing. She clearly had done quite a bit of intensive listening. I also was curious about her Armenian past and how she learned to swing. Before I roll out my interview with Lucy, here are a couple of tracks (scroll down) so you can hear ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

With Roses

Triangle7
2023

buy

Voices

Outside in Music
2023

buy

In Her Words

Self Produced
2021

buy

Blue Heaven

Cellar Live
2019

buy

Videos

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