2022

Paris Sessions 2

Tierney Sutton Featuring Hubert Laws, Serge Merlaud and Kevin Axt

On 2014’s Grammy-nominated Paris Sessions, called “a bare-bones journey into the depths of musical intimacy” by AllMusic.com, vocalist Tierney Sutton forged an indelible chemistry with classically-trained Parisian guitarist-arranger Serge Merlaud. Now husband and wife, the two take their musical connection to even deeper levels on Paris Sessions 2, released May 6, 2022.

Paris Sessions 2 was recorded at L.A.’s Tritone Studios. Acoustic bass guitarist Kevin Axt, a member of the Tierney Sutton Band since 2005 and a key component of the first Paris Sessions, is back on board for Paris Sessions 2, providing resounding bass lines and all-important chordal work behind Merlaud’s lyrical guitar solos. Legendary flutist Hubert Laws, who recorded remotely from his home studio, blends beautifully with Sutton’s crystalline voice on five songs. The results are as entrancing as they are invigorating.

They kick things off in spirited fashion with a romp through Jobim’s “Triste,” which finds Tierney alternately scatting freely over the buoyant melody and delivering the Portuguese lyrics in cleanly articulated and convincing fashion against Merlaud’s authentic bossa nova comping. Tierney and Serge then combine for a stirring rubato treatment of “April in Paris/Free Man in Paris,” joining the Count Basie signature song and the Joni Mitchell tune together in a thematic medley. The full quartet makes its first appearance on Jobim’s tender bossa nova “Zingaro,” which has Laws’ alto flute alternately doubling Sutton’s wordless, ethereal vocals and shadowing her English lyrics. Both Laws and Merlaud turn in lyrical solos on this melodic gem.

On a relaxed rendition of the George Gershwin ballad “Isn’t It a Pity,” Axt comps on acoustic bass guitar while Merlaud engages in some conversational call-and-response with Sutton as she imbues Ira Gershwin’s plaintive lyrics with rare emotional honesty. “That is something that I just really love to do with Serge,” said Tierney, “because he has that instinct about responding to lyrics and playing the right subtle little line in a space.” Merlaud’s solo here, on electric guitar, is outstanding. The three next deliver a tasty bossa nova treatment of the jazz standard “Beautiful Love,” with Axt’s ability to chord so effectively once again coming into play behind Merlaud’s solo before delivering a virtuosic solo himself.

Tierney pays tribute to her longtime friend and L.A. legend Alan Bergman, part of the Oscar and Grammy-winning songwriting team of Alan and Marilyn Bergman, on three tunes on Paris Sessions 2 that he co-wrote. “Working closely with the Bergmans over the years has made me extra sensitive to a great lyric when it falls in my lap,” said Sutton, who sings Bergman’s lyrics on John Williams’ “Moonlight” (a tune recorded by Sting for the 1995 film Sabrina, starring Harrison Ford), on Dave Grusin’s “A Child Is Born” (recorded by Barbara Streisand for her 1975 album Lazy Afternoon) and on the romantic “I Knew I Love You, which marries Ennio Morricone’s “Love Theme” from Cinema Paradiso and “Deborah’s Theme” from Once Upon a Time in America. “It’s an odd thing to say, but my best friend in L.A. is a 96-year-old lyricist,” she added. “He’s really one of my nearest and dearest friends. I speak to him almost every day.”

Sutton and Merlaud team for some intimate duets on a dreamy interpretation of the Leslie Bricusse/Anthony Newley classic, “Pure Imagination” (from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory), and a lively take on the bossa nova classic “Doralice.” Merlaud matches Sutton’s frisky scatting stride for stride on this Dorival Caymmi number which famously appeared on the 1964 landmark album Getz/Gilberto.

The trio turns in a poignant reading of Sting’s sentimental “August Winds” from his 2014 musical The Last Ship, then Laws joins them on the album’s lone swinger, a sassy and slyly syncopated interpretation of Cole Porter’s “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To.” Laws and Merlaud each turn in remarkably hip solos here, underscored by Axt’s insistent walking bass lines. “That’s my arrangement, pretty much,” said Tierney. “I came up with that little bass line thing that I sing at the beginning the day after Sammy Nestico died. I loved Sammy and I always wanted to work with him more. He gave me some charts that he wrote for the Count Basie band for Sarah Vaughan, which I just loved. He was one of the bright lights of the jazz scene here in Southern California. So when he passed, I was just thinking about all the great swing writing that he did, and I came up with that little simple phrase that we built the arrangement on. It was my tip of the hat to Sammy Nestico.”

The collection closes on a hauntingly beautiful note with “Chorado” by Brazilian guitarist-composer Guinga. Laws’ alto flute again blends magically with Sutton’s wafting voice for ethereal effect. “In doing this album I knew I wanted to try and capture in the studio that sound that Hubert and I get live, which is a pretty extraterrestrial thing,” said Tierney. “Blending with him and being in unison with him, it literally makes me feel a little high. Because it’s so soothing and so wonderful to have my voice and the vibration of his alto flute together. It’s such a perfect sound that being inside of it is a physical experience. It’s really quite amazing.”

Tierney’s 15th album as a leader, which she has dedicated to the late Marilyn Bergman, who passed in January of 2022, represents yet another high-water mark in her esteemed career.

The nine-time Grammy nominee has been heralded for her abilities as both a jazz storyteller and her ability to use her voice as an instrument. Whether it was on her 2002 tribute to Bill Evans (Blue In Green), her 2004 Frank Sinatra tribute (Dancing in the Dark), her 2013 Joni Mitchell tribute (After Blue) or her 2016 salute to pop icon Sting (The Sting Variations), Sutton has continued to weave her spell with a combination of pure, pristine vocals, emotional honesty and striking reinventions of familiar tunes. That spell is very much intact on Paris Sessions 2.