[.ca] Unsung Heroes

From Amazon.com:
Tierney Sutton is a genuine jazz singer, a clear-voiced soprano with sure pitch and diction who concentrates on musical substance. Her approach can suggest Sheila Jordan or Norma Winstone, and she's equally effective at quick bop, medium-swing tempos, and moody ballads. The "unsung heroes" she invokes are the great instrumentalists who have inspired her and whose compositions are seldom sung, like Joe Henderson ("Remember Me" is his "Recordame"), Clifford Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, and Wayne Shorter. Her phrasing is often trumpet-like on the improvised solos, and she gets terrific support from a trio led by pianist Christian Jacob and guest soloists who include Stan Kenton veteran Buddy Childers on flügelhorn. There's an almost unearthly purity of vocals in her subtle version of "Spring Is Here," but the absolute highlight is the Jimmy Rowles tune "A Timeless Place (The Peacocks)," with lyrics by Winstone. It's a demanding line with difficult harmony that Sutton weaves perfectly with Jacob and Gary Foster on alto flute. --Stuart Broomer

what a find!:
in recent years my taste has broadened to include more contemporary vocalists (before I stuck with Ella, Billie and Joe Turner). I was really pleased to find Jane Monheit, for example. Tierney Sutton is on an entirely different level, at least two rungs higher, in my opinion. Her imagination and technique are remarkable, and she is in sync with her band to an amazing degree. The accompaniment is consistently as interesting as her vocal work. Ms. Sutton's recording band is the same as her road band, which makes a huge difference to her recorded work, and I hope to her live performances (I am going to hear her next month). This is fascinating and often challenging music -- the cymbal beat on "Spring Is Here", for example. The rewards are even greater than the challenges.

Pure Artistry:
This album takes more than one listening to fully appreciate. The songs do not "reach out" and grab one on the first hearing probably because one is trying to synchronize the superb orchestration, the voice, the interpretations. The voice reminds one of her co-singer, Cheryl Bentyne, not in tone but in enunciation, clarity and fragility. I must point out that the instrumentation is knockout, just incredible. There is a mood on this CD that is more playful than soulful, not as deeply blue as the Frank Sinatra CD, but just as inspiring in its own way. "Remember Me" is one of those that grows with repeated hearings; "A Timeless Place" is a wonderful ballade, "All for One" a celebration of Ms. Sutton's brilliance and the final "Con Alma" a sweet, soulful conclusion to one of the best works around.

Once in a Generation:
I can see from the reviews of this and her other three albums that there are some people out there who realize what is going on here. Bill Evans comes to mind. It does not matter whether you listen to him on an intellectual level or an emotional level, from the opening notes you can't ignore him. The same can be said of Tierney Sutton. The bar has been raised, and, right now, there's Tierney, and then there's everbody else. Jimmy Rowles, The Peacocks, cannot be a comfortable song to sing, musically it has to be an uncomfortable situation, and yet she pulls it off, with a great deal of help from Christian Jacob et al. Spring is Here is a classic example of the voice as an intregal instument in a group setting. I happen to know that my CD cabinet holds 1,000 CD's, it is full, and a few more have slopped over onto the table. Unsung Heroes is in the top 10 in that collection, and it says a lot that her other three CD's are also on that short list.

Buy this for "Donna Lee":
This was Tierney Sutton's second album, and it was a harbinger for the tremendous "Something Cool." While it's not at the level of the latter (only because nothing else is, really), it's abolutely worth having. The album's highlight is Ms. Sutton's medley of "Back Home Again In Indiana" and Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee"--probably the most unlikely medley in history, and one that works. Another is "Bernie's Tune". Here, Ms. Sutton demonstrates her ability to sing at breakneck speed with perfect diction and intonation. As always, her sidemen--the wonderful Christian Jacob, Trey Henry and Ray Brinker--are perfect. Although it's not quite as consistent as her later albums, you can't go wrong with this one. Buy it.

A great stylist:
I've been listening to this recording for almost 2 years now. I will never tire of it for several reasons. First, Ms. Sutton's voice is clear and ethereal. There are some who criticize her voice as being too clean or too bright. Well, she is (or was) head of the jazz vocal dept. at USC, so she SHOULD know how to sing! I love her voice. She can do anything with it, from the syncopated rhythms of "Remember Me" to torch songs to ballads. This is related to the second point. Her agile voice allows her to sing songs in so many styles. I would guess that, being an academic, she has studied a range of styles. Whether that's an issue or not, I don't know. If you want your vocalist to be untrained, then fine, but even so-called untrained singers study other singers' styles, and are just as tuned in (pardon the pun) to the history of jazz vocals. It's just that they don't have a university degree. So what?! Finally, she has assembled a crackerjack band whose members are just as agile with their instruments as she is with her's (her voice). Listen to "Spring is Here" to be convinced that this is no mere jazz singer, but one who is inventive, classy, and a little sassy.

• Remember Me (Recordame)
• Early Autumn
• Timeless Place (The Peacocks)
• Bernie's Tune
• Spring Is Here
• Joy Spring
• All for One (Speak No Evil)
• (Back Home Again In) Indiana/Donna Lee
• When Lights Are Low
• Con Alma