Just Friends Jazz Series
Lucy Yeghiazaryan is an American Armenian vocalist who has become a leading voice in American straight-ahead jazz by bringing the real richness of her heritage together with her love for the ultimate American artform. She is a recipient of grants from the Doris Duke Foundation, Chamber Music America and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She has shared the stage with Harold Mabern, Houston Person, Grant Stewart, Terell Stafford, Bernadette Peters, Arto Tuncboyaijian and many more. She regularly works with the Emmet Cohen Trio and can be found performing in and outside of the U.S. with regular appearances at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Mezzrow, Symphony Space and more. She was a top-ten finalist in the 2015 Thelonious Monk Competition and holds a degree in world history, in addition to being a skilled classical violinist. Her debut album, Blue Heaven, was released in 2019 on Cellar Live Records and was followed by the album In Her Words on La Reserve Records in 2021, which was sponsored by The Women’s Fund of NYFA. Her third album, Lonely House, was released in 2023.
Lucy grew up in post-Soviet Armenia and began listening to her father’s once contraband collection of jazz records at a young age. Electricity was intermittent so these listening sessions were rare, but the collection of standards so captivated her that years before she ever learned to speak English, she began singing the tunes meticulously mimicking the sounds and styles of the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.
Economic hardships eventually forced the family to immigrate to America in 2002. Lucy brought her passion for jazz to the states, where she applied for and received a full scholarship to NJPAC’s Jazz for Teens Program and happily became part of the local jazz community. After graduating college, she moved to New York City in 2015 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.
