There are so many female vocalists out there that simply sound the same that it’s a treat when you find someone as fresh as Lucy Yegiazaryan. She’s definitely in the jazz tradition, with a tone and timing that gives hints of June Christy and Peggy Lee, but with a bit more huskiness. She mostly sticks to standards here with a simpatico team of guitarist Greg Ruggiero, tenor saxist Grant Stewart mixing and matching the front line along with bassist Daniel Duke and drummer Steve Williams. The thing that makes this such a winning ticket is her mix of relaxed confidence and luscious depth of lyric interpretation.
She’s clear, cool and slyly hip on a suavely lithe “Sweet Pumpkin” that is coaxed along by Williams’ brushes and Duke’s joggers pulse of a bass. 50’s warm and casual “Nobody Else But Me” has her cooing with Ruggiero and Stewart, and she creates a smoky noir street corner atmosphere with Stewart blowing rings under the lamppost during “I Wish I Knew.”
She strips down a bit for a dreamy trio with guitar and bass for a misty and vulnerable “Beautiful Dreams,” doffing a bit more on a delicate duet on a lusciously intimate “That Ole Devil Called Love” and goes it all alone and natural for a solo and deeply moonlit “Love Isn’t Everything.” If you want music with stories and landscapes, this lady is your tour guide. When’s she hitting So Cal?!??