';
Eleonora Kouneni
Independently Blue EP Launch
Friday 20th November ‘26
8 pm → Tickets £20 https://www.pizzaexpresslive.com/whats-on/eleonora-kouneni
After the sold out launch of This Eager Heart earlier
this year, jazz singer and songwriter Eleonora Kouneni returns to PizzaExpress
Live Chelsea with her band of longstanding collaborators for the launch of her
new EP, Independently Blue — a contemporary exploration of love on
uncertain ground and the second chapter of a two part story told through a
single narrator.
Described by Jazz FM as "making a bit of a name for herself in the London
jazz scene" and praised by BBC Radio London's Carrie & David Grant for
her "vocal dexterity" and "sense of swing", Eleonora has
enjoyed a year of growing recognition. Recent highlights include a Jazz FM
Featured Track of the Week selection for the EP's first single, Love Me or
Leave Me, a ★★★★ review of Independently Blue ahead of its
release from Music Republic Magazine, which described her as bringing
"warmth, sensitivity and an honest, natural delivery to these much-loved
songs", as well as sold-out London and festival performances.
Created in collaboration with pianist Chris Lee, Independently
Blue continues the duo's exploration of the Great American Songbook through
a contemporary lens. The project brings together classic repertoire,
contemporary storytelling and a distinctly personal perspective. Where This
Eager Heart traced the movement from outward story to inward truth,
Independently Blue steps into the emotional terrain that follows: the
oscillation between frustration, fantasy, confrontation and the possibility of
renewal.
Be among the first to hear Independently Blue on its release day and
celebrate with Eleonora and her band. The programme will also include original
songs from her debut EP If You Just…, as well as songs from This
Eager Heart, and a preview of unreleased material and a preview of
unrecorded originals and fresh jazz arrangements, offering audiences a blend of
familiar repertoire, fresh interpretations and the evolving sound of a
partnership rooted in shared musical curiosity.
Full Biography
Eleonora Kouneni is a Greek-born/London-based jazz
vocalist and songwriter known for a vocal approach that blends jazz phrasing
with Mediterranean warmth, emotional clarity and a storyteller’s instinct.
Eleonora began her career in Athens in her late teens, opening for some of
Greece’s most celebrated vocalists at major festivals before relocating to
London and establishing herself in the city’s jazz scene.
Her independently released debut EP introduced her
songwriting to international audiences, with its lead single reaching over 2.5
million streams across 170 countries and drawing over 36,000 monthly listeners.
This global reach helped pave the way for several London shows, including sold
out shows at the Green Note Basement, a showcase in New York City, and a recent
sold-out headline show at the Monks Jazz Club in Austin, TX, with some of the
best musicians in town, which was also live-streamed internationally. In 2026,
she embarked on a two-part Songbook project with pianist Chris Lee, beginning
with This Eager Heart (March 2026)—which led to high-profile headline gigs,
festival invitations, radio play and over 30,000 streams on Spotify—and
continuing with Independently Blue (out November 20th, 2026), which deepens her
exploration of the Great American Songbook through a modern, narrator-driven
lens.
Chris Lee is a London-based composer/arranger/pianist who has performed and
recorded with some of the leading musicians on the London jazz and Brazilian
music scenes. Notable albums include Second Take, with singer Jenny
Howe, which feature his arrangements of iconic pop/rock standards (“to recast
well-known tunes in a new idiom is difficult enough, but to come up with such
convincing results takes talent and imagination”; Dave Gelly, The Observer), and
A Troubled Man, with singer Mark Jennett, a song-cycle portraying the
fictional detective Kurt Wallander in Swedish author Henning Mankell’s Nordic
noir crime novels ("unusual and attractive ... poised and flowing ... lean
and lyrical"; Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal).
This marks their second recording venture together, and both are excited to share this new chapter with both loyal listeners and new audiences alike.
Band Line-Up
Eleonora Kouneni (vocals)
Chris Lee (piano)
Martin Young (bass)
Manuel Filgueiras (drums)