Jazz Articles about Tierney Sutton

Tierney Sutton: Dancing in the Dark: Inspired by the Music of Frank Sinatra

by C. Michael Bailey
December 24, 2003

Tierney Sutton is neither a “snake charmer" (in 1940s parlance), nor a “chanteuse" (in anemic 21st century vernacular). She is a jazz singer (to the moronic print and advertising media who ineffectually write about her as if her talent were mere aptitude). Ms. Sutton is no stranger to the electrons floating in this space (nor to this critic). She is very much a living, breathing artist existing just short of exultation. She stormed the jazz scene in 1998 with a ...

Tierney Sutton: Something Cool

by Roger Crane
September 4, 2002

I don’t ordinarily drink with strangers, I most usually drink alone,” states the lonely (and probably faded) lady in Billy Barnes’ masterful song, “Something Cool.” Tennessee Williams could have inspired this Blanche Dubois like heroine and it takes a singer with a talent for language, prosody and pacing to perform this story song convincingly. Tierney Sutton is very much a jazz singer, who focuses on the music, but she is also a storyteller and her rendition of this inspired and ...

Tierney Sutton: Something Cool

by Dave Nathan
September 1, 2002

With her third album for Telarc and her fourth overall, songstress Tierney Sutton has established herself as one of the leading lights among today's jazz vocalists. Offering a 14-tune play list with lots of variety and about 65 minutes of music, both vocal and instrumental, Sutton shows that she's a true singer of song without whom there would be no songs. She takes such authoritative possession of whatever she selects, it is hard for another singer to reclaim it. This ...

Tierney Sutton: Blue in Green

by Roger Crane
February 1, 2002

It has been a pleasure to watch Tierney Sutton grow as a singer. When I first reviewed her performance for Marge Hofacre's Jazz News back in 1995 (in Three on a Swing ), I stated that “Tierney has no recordings as yet but she will." Given her talent, it was easy to make such a brash prediction - and this attractive young singer has now issued three CDs. Her confidence and skills seem to grow almost CD by CD.

Sutton's ...

Tierney Sutton: Blue In Green

by AAJ Staff
July 1, 2001

A glance at the listing of tunes on Tierney Sutton's Blue In Green intrigued me because somehow it consists of some of my favorites: “Autumn Leaves," “Detour Ahead," “Someday My Prince Will Come," “Never Let Me Go," and of course “Waltz For Debby" and “Blue In Green." The common element binding all of the tunes together isn't just their lyricism, even though some of the tunes remained without words for a number of years. Of course, the tunes are consistent ...

Tierney Sutton: Unsung Heroes

by C. Michael Bailey
September 1, 2000

Vocalese. The mellow personalities of the guitar flugelhorn, and trombone, coupled wish the breathy piping of an alto/soprano voice combine to make Unsung Heroes a very cool proposition. Several primarily vocalese discs have found their way to me recently, all sporting accomplished, even incendiary, vocal challenges met. I would not describe Tierney Sutton's voice as such. She is dry ice cool like the 1950s Art Pepper alto saxophone. The results are very appealing and technically accomplished.

Scat Cat. Sutton is ...

Tierney Sutton: Unsung Heroes

by Mark Corroto
April 1, 2000

Miles Davis never shouted. I’m not talking about his damaged vocal chords. He rarely raised his musical voice above a whisper. Singer Tierney Sutton, like Miles, doesn’t raise her voice to make a resounding statement. Unlike so many upper range vocal gymnasts working today, Sutton favors articulation and quiet beauty as her approach. Funny so did the greatest of all, Ella Fitzgerald. Sutton, a semi-finalist in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Vocal Competition, has one prior release on A-Records (1997). This, ...