{"id":3343,"date":"2012-02-09T23:32:33","date_gmt":"2012-02-10T07:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=3343"},"modified":"2012-02-10T14:55:47","modified_gmt":"2012-02-10T22:55:47","slug":"recent-listening-the-tierney-sutton-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2012\/02\/recent-listening-the-tierney-sutton-band\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Listening: The Tierney Sutton Band"},"content":{"rendered":"

This nearly completes reviews of albums I voted for in the Rhapsody jazz critics poll<\/a> as 2011\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best. <\/p>\n

The Tierney Sutton Band<\/strong>, American Road<\/em><\/a> (BFM)<\/p>\n

Sutton and her band apply their musicianship, intensity and camaraderie to a dozen American songs. The pieces range across traditional music (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh \"\"<\/a>Shenandoah\/The Water is Wide,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wayfaring Stranger,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Amazing Grace\u00e2\u20ac\u009d); pop (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153On Broadway,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tenderly\u00e2\u20ac\u009d); songs from the theater (four by Bernstein, three by Gershwin, one by Arlen); and patriotism (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153America the Beautiful\u00e2\u20ac\u009d). In a duet with pianist Christian Jacob, Sutton applies delicacy to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tenderly.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She finds just the right notes of dreamy hope in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Somewhere.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d With the quartet in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My Man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Gone Now,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d following a Jacob solo that builds tension and drama, she chisels a chilling portrait of pain and despair. <\/p>\n

A solo by Kevin Axt or Trey Henry sets up \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Amazing Grace\u00e2\u20ac\u009d— both bassists are on the album but not identified song by song. After one chorus from Sutton, drummer Ray Brinker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s emphatic strokes change the mood for Jacob\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solo. By the time Sutton reenters, there is an air of minor-key mystery that builds to uncertainty before she and the bass, in unison, resolve to an ending of ghostly peace. Those of us who believe that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153America The Beautiful\u00e2\u20ac\u009d should be the national anthem will find\"\"<\/a> reinforcement in the purity of Sutton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Jacob\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s closing duet. Sutton includes a bonus in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It Ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Necessarily So,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a quick biology lesson (whales aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fish, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re mammals). <\/p>\n

As I have noted more than once, these five people are not a singer and a rhythm section. They are a band. There is a lot happening in their latest collection. It has beauty, simplicity and complexity in equal measure. It deserves close listening—and rewards it.<\/p>\n

Next time: A massive box of good old Duke Ellington, and we’ll move out of the poll business, maybe once and for all. But I’ve threatened that before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This nearly completes reviews of albums I voted for in the Rhapsody jazz critics poll as 2011\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best. The Tierney Sutton Band, American Road (BFM) Sutton and her band apply their musicianship, intensity and camaraderie to a dozen American songs. The pieces range across traditional music (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh Shenandoah\/The Water is Wide,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wayfaring Stranger,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Amazing Grace\u00e2\u20ac\u009d); […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}