Lucy Yeghiazaryan’s Musical Dialogue Between Armenia and Jazz

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What links the jazz classic “Lover Come Back to Me” with the ashugh song “Yet Ari, Tarlans” [Ետ արի, թառլանս] beyond their shared longing for the return of a loved one? Both songs are featured on New York City-based Armenian jazz vocalist Lucy Yeghiazaryan’s new album, “Beside the Golden Door”, where she pairs Armenian songs with American jazz standards, highlighting their thematic connections. This August, the artist performed songs from the album and more for audiences in Lori, Shirak, Aragatsotn and Yerevan as part of her 2024 Armenia tour.

Lucy Yeghiazaryan, a child of post-independent Armenia’s dark-and-cold years of the 1990s, grew up in Armavir listening to her father’s collection of jazz and rock tunes—a trove considered controversial in Soviet times. “Back then, my dad had lots of friends from the State Orchestra, and I suppose they were the ones who would secretly bring stuff and tape them,” Lucy recalls. “I remember we had cassettes of Michael Bolton that were recorded over with Ella Fitzgerald, and people would just keep copying and passing them around.” She’d sing along and try to imitate artists like Sarah Vaughan, not knowing who they were or what the lyrics meant. The rhythm of jazz captivated her.

In 2001, economic hardships forced Lucy’s family to move to New Jersey, hoping for a better future. “We were one of the few families that didn’t have any relatives in America, so we had nowhere to go,” Lucy explains. “My mom was just looking for work, and she found a job in a very rural area of New Jersey.” Although Lucy is now an established vocalist on the New York City jazz scene, she and her family didn’t have an easy start. “We were the only immigrant family in that town, and people did not want us there,” she recalls. In retrospect, Lucy appreciates her initial experience in New Jersey, as “that rural part of New Jersey gave me a truthful glimpse into what America is.”

Navigating Identity Through Jazz and Armenian Music

Lucy Yeghiazaryan is a “breath of fresh air” on the New York scene. She has a warm approach, but at the same time she can light up a club with her sound. A true, young, professional jazz musician. One of my favorites.”

                                                                         – Joe Magnarelli (jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist)

Amid the early challenges of moving to a new country where she felt unwelcome, Lucy turned to jazz for comfort. “Jazz ended up being the only thing that felt like home. Oddly enough, the most American thing was the most familiar to me in America because everything else was so strange,” she reflects. It was here that she discovered new artists and deepened her love for the genre. “YouTube was new, and I remember seeing Billie Holiday singing for the first time—it blew my mind.” With a degree in world history and formal training in classical violin, Lucy gradually found her footing in the Big Apple as a jazz vocalist. She shared the stage with local bands and established musicians like Harold Mabern, Houston Person, and Grant Stewart. Today she is a leading voice in American straight-ahead jazz and an active member of the jazz community in the U.S. and elsewhere.

However, the journey as an immigrant jazz vocalist wasn’t without its struggles. In a candid reflection, the artist opens up about her experience with identity crisis. “Jazz is Black American music,” Lucy acknowledges, highlighting the debate over who has the right to play it, especially among younger artists who argue that jazz should remain within its cultural origins. “Sometimes I can’t find my place because people say, ‘You’re a white girl, you don’t belong here,’” Lucy confesses. She recognizes that jazz has become a global genre embraced by musicians of all backgrounds, yet this inclusivity doesn’t always ease her feelings of not belonging. Nevertheless, she’s found confidence in the acceptance and encouragement from jazz greats like Harold Mabern and Johnny O’Neal. “My experience showed me that those who truly care about music aren’t concerned with your gender or race,” she says.

Lucy’s identity struggles often manifest when it comes to Armenian music also. When doubts of belonging arise, she sometimes asks herself: “Why don’t I go to my homeland and sing the music of my people?” Yet she also questions her place within Armenian music. “As I’ve left my homeland and as a diasporan Armenian, how can I properly represent Armenian music? For people who left around my age, at eleven or twelve years old, it’s really difficult to decide who you are— a Diasporan or an Armenian. And I still struggle with that.”

Lucy’s internal conflict highlights the challenge of navigating multiple cultural identities, a common experience in diaspora communities. Fortunately, these inner doubts didn’t hinder her creativity. Instead, the duality of her identity enriched her work, weaving together her Armenian heritage with her passion for jazz, an American art form. Her latest album, “Beside the Golden Door”, embodies this fusion. “I think this last album I released was my final statement—this is what it is. This is how I sing Armenian music and this is how I sing jazz,” Lucy affirms.

Cultural Preservation Through Music: The Making of “Beside the Golden Door”

Released in the summer of 2024 as part of the Creative Armenia-AGBU Fellowship, “Beside the Golden Door” features ten jazz standards paired with ten Armenian pieces. These range from 1940s classics by the National Armenian Folk Ensemble to late 1990s pop tunes by beloved artists like Elvina Makaryan. To bring the album to life, Lucy explored the digital archives of the Public Radio of Armenia, discovering new pieces for herself along the way. “I pride myself on knowing a lot of American jazz standards, but my God! There are so many Armenian tunes!” she says proudly. Lucy notes that there’s a common misconception about most Armenian music being sad. “There’s a lot of humor, joy, and happiness in Armenian songs as well,” she says. During her research Lucy came across “Yerjankutyun/Happiness” [Երջանկություն] performed by Ruben Matevosyan. Speaking about working with American guitarist Eric Zolan on the album, she recalls that performing the piece was both interesting and challenging. “Eric and I worked on this one more than any other song.”

Lucy Yeghiazaryan’s main goal for the album is to present Armenian music to an international audience by conveying universal sentiments and feelings through music, rather than providing translations. She believes music contains universal elements that transcend the boundaries of language and culture. Lucy also sees a common thread between jazz and the Armenian ashugh tradition, as both are music of the common people. “Whether you’re from Harlem in New York City or Lori in Armenia, there are always universal human stories, morals, joys, and pains that are clear and dear to everyone,” she said in an interview with Creative Armenia. 

Beyond popularizing Armenian music in the U.S. and elsewhere, Lucy’s album has the potential to create a cultural bridge between Armenians in Armenia and those in the diaspora. She believes the album may help Diasporan Armenians who are interested in exploring Soviet or post-Soviet Armenian music but aren’t very familiar with it. While much of the album was recorded in the U.S., Lucy also collaborated with local Armenian artists, strengthening ties between the two Armenian realms. “Mikayel Voskanyan plays the tar in the album, and Zhanna Davtyan and my sister, Tatev Yeghiazaryan, sing. It’s truly a collaboration between Armenians here and abroad,” she says. 

“Beside the Golden Door” is not Lucy’s first effort to celebrate Armenian music or to connect with her homeland. In 2014-2015, she spent several months in Armenia working with Armen Hyusnunts and the State Jazz Orchestra, as well as teaching at the Narekatsi Art Institute in Shushi, Artsakh. Since 2019, Lucy has also been posting live covers of Armenian songs on her YouTube channel, collaborating again with guitarist Eric Zolan.

Armenian music was long a private affair for Lucy, something she enjoyed at home. However, the 2020 Artsakh War changed her perspective on singing Armenian music, bringing a sense of urgency. 

“For me, singing Armenian music was a way to remember the homeland,” Lucy explains. “But suddenly, the very real threat of losing our homeland made me realize that cultural preservation for a country like Armenia is a serious matter, because it can stop existing any day. While I can’t necessarily do anything about the war, I can help the country live on, even if it doesn’t survive physically. I wanted to document that small piece of Armenia I kept in my home and give it to the public.” 

Lucy stresses the importance of passing music through oral tradition. Today, she continues this practice by singing these tunes to her child, ensuring the next generation carries the tradition forward. 

Reflecting on her Armenia tour, Lucy Yeghiazaryan hopes her music has touched people’s souls, offering them a brief respite from their daily struggles. Moved by the warm welcome she received in Armenia, she is committed to returning every year. Lucy’s vision extends beyond future concerts and collaborations with local musicians. She dreams of contributing to arts education in her hometown of Armavir and beyond—a dream inspired by her work with youth in Shushi in 2014. “I must come back to the homeland and share what I’ve learned abroad,” she says. “If I ever have the financial means, I’d love to turn my father’s house in Armavir into an art center where classes would be offered free of charge.” 

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