LOCAL jazz baby, Lucy Ward is about to release her second album entitled Shakin’ The Blues Away.

Being a local artist Lucy has decided to launch the album in new venue ‘The White Room’ in Whitefield where she lives.

The launch party on April 6 will be an evening of indulgence, filled with sparkling cocktails and slinky tunes and the album will be on sale for the first time.

The Lucy Ward Quartet will be playing live from 7.30 with some special guest performers including Miss Manny Lipman of Avid Diva fame, Mr Mark Halliday famous for his portrayal of Dean Martin in The Rat Pack: Live From Las Vegas and a few more surprises on the night.

The album features some quartet tunes and also three tunes with the Northern Swing Orchestra as part of the Well Swung Big Band project.

These riotous arrangements aim to bring jazz music to younger audiences by translating modern pop tunes into swing numbers.

“We dabbled with this on the first album and they’ve now become a regular feature of both big band shows and quartet gigs, people go wild for them!” says musical director Pete Faint.

The album will also be available via cdbaby.com.