Lucy Yeghiazaryan: Hey Love!

It is always a treat to hear a singer who trusts the song. On Hey Love!, recorded at Van Gelder Studios in October 2025, Lucy Yeghiazaryan takes the direct route, usually the most forgiving. There are no conceptual detours here, no attempts to modernize the Great American Songbook by dismantling it. Instead, Yeghiazaryan takes control of the tradition, accompanied by musicians who understand its swing. And it is a great group of players. Tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart, who also co-arranged the material, brings his customary warmth and authority to the proceedings. Trumpeter Bruce Harris adds flashes of brass sparkle, while pianist Tardo Hammer provides the harmonic grounding that straight-ahead vocals demand. The rhythm section of bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington offers the increasingly rare commodity of effortless propulsion. Guest pianist Johnny O'Neal appears on two selections, lending his unmistakable touch to "Blow Top Blues" and the closer "Dedicated To You."

Yeghiazaryan opens with "Next Spring," a buoyant swinger that sounds deceptively simple until one appreciates the control and conversational ease with which the tune is delivered. Stewart and Harris both deliver succinct solos in support of the interpretation. The pairing of the titles "Hey Love!" and "I Thought About You" is a delightful offering. With her take-charge vocal, Yeghiazaryan rides over the rhythmic cushion provided by Hammer, Washington and Washington with easy grace.

The seldom-heard Duke Ellington composition "Tonight I Shall Sleep With A  Smile On My Face" receives an affectionate reading, bolstered by a sympathetic solo from Stewart. Jazz writer and historian Leonard Feather penned "Blow Top Blues," a song by Yeghiazaryan learned from blues singer Etta James that is filled with a sense of lived experience in every line. Joining in is pianist O'Neal, whose down-home playing lends conviction to the rendition.

Cy Coleman's "Witchcraft," a popular hit for Frank Sinatra, benefits from Yeghiazaryan's curiosity and imagination. She restores a rarely heard verse and fashions a new ending for the arrangement, personalizing the familiar without altering its essential character. Another Sinatra classic is the Sammy Cahn-Jimmy Van Heusen number "Come Dance With Me," which was also the title of the 1959 Capitol album, one of Sinatra's most successful releases. In this danceable interpretation, Yeghiazaryan reaffirms her instinct for phrasing and narrative, delivering warmth, swing and clarity of intent.

The album closes with "Dedicated To You," featuring Yeghiazaryan and O'Neal in a duo vocal performance, with O'Neal accompanying on piano. The number feels less like a closing and more like a quiet, lingering conversation.