Blue in Green Sophomore slump? Not for Tierney Sutton. After a memorable debut in Unsung Heroes, the willowy singer of elegant purr and urgent phrasing focuses on an even more intensely personal project–singing a well-paced set of 14 songs, all but one written by or associated with legendary pianist Bill Evans. Tierney maneuvers her hand-in-glove trio (no guest horns) through Evans’s ineffable book, and comes up with a date that’s perfectly relaxed and fitting. She sidles through quiet moments and breezy bits, engineers tempo shifts, applies gentle gestures, and edgily improvises. Instrumentals like “Very Early” and “We Will Meet Again” earn fresh lyrics from Sutton and others, yet Tierney manages to evoke Evans’s disquieting genius at each turn of phrase, as pianist Christian Jacob, himself cut of Evans-esque velvet, counters with arching, heartfelt lines, sometimes eerily evocative of the master. Each tune sets a unique internal pulse, a rhythmic point-of-view that invests the arrangement with individuality–fleet dotted-eighths on “Autumn Leaves,” a tentative ostinato on Miles Davis’s “Blue in Green,” a slinking “You and the Night and the Music”–all obliquely recalling Evans own inimitable, unmistakable phrasing. Knowing touches include inviting in Evans’s last drummer, Joe LaBarbera, to airbrush “Waltz for Debby/Tiffany,” overdubbing harmony and adding a bass on “Sometime Ago,” and daring to air back-to-back ballads, as Evans often did. As tributes go, she’s mined pure gold. –Fred Bouchard
Customer Review: Where angels fear to tread
Like Karrin Allyson’s tribute album to John Coltrane, Tierney Sutton’s tribute to Bill Evans places extra demands on the listener. Both albums offer ample testimony that the state of jazz singing in the post-Ella-Sarah-Carmen age is indeed well. But both recordings also force the listener to try to forego comparisons with their respective muses.
With the exception of several of Bill’s original compositions, I hear nothing on this album that would in itself remind me of his music (”Just Squeeze Me”?!). Coltrane’s was a vatic and Bill’s an aesthetic muse, but both artists had in common a search for rapture that produced music of unrelenting urgency and passion, of tensions and energies that act as a vortex pulling the listener into a world of profound and frightening beauty. Compare the ‘61 Vanguard Sessions with the ‘80 Vanguard Sessions (or anything from Evans’ remarkable final year), and you become aware of impressionistic colors ultimately giving place to a dark and tragic dimension in Bill’s utterly unique, unprecedented, even “threatening” hold on the listener’s psyche.
I’m not sure why Tierney would want to summon up this world because her own offers sufficient rewards of its own. I suspect her pianist doesn’t appreciate the comparison, because nowhere does he capture Bill’s complex musical energy and ineffable touch. Disassociate this music from the precursor’s (it took me a while to be able to do so), and it no longer pales in comparison. The languour and glibness are lifted, and the music takes on a serene life of its own. Moreover, there isn’t a bad tune let alone a rough moment on the session (Bill, on the other hand, had a few). Like some of the previous reviewers, I notice the recurrent hints of nasality in Tierney’s voice but find it personal, a bit sexy and, more importantly, musical (it enables her to close off vowels more quickly and speed up articulations).
All told, this is of the same high order as Tierney’s other recordings, so let repertory be your guide. (I’m still partial to “Dancing in the Dark.”)
Customer Review: Nice but Nasal
I also dislike the nasal quality of Ms. Sutton’s voice on this CD and find it distracting. It’s the reason I play it less than I’d like. On the other hand, I think she has amazing talent. I love the different renditions of standards, the clarity and perfect notes, the varied selections and style. A beautiful voice with great potential. In spite of the negative, I’m still glad I have this CD.