2011

American Road

Tierney Sutton Band

Outstanding performances by the Grammy-nominated Tierney Sutton Band who give us fresh, personal, jazzy renditions of some American music classics cutting a sonic swath through history, folk, faith, Broadway, jazz, and the Great American Songbook. Proving once again that she can sing any song into beautiful submission and bend it to her jazzy will, singer Tierney Sutton is marvelous throughout, singing and scatting, while receiving superlative support from her long-running, well-integrated working band: pianist Christian Jacob, bassists Trey Henry and Kevin Axt, and drummer Ray Brinker.

A haunting “Wayfaring Stranger” is delivered over a driving Brinker beat with Tierney soaring above with fresh nuance. The combination of “Shenandoah/The Water is Wide” works beautifully as Tierney weaves these two classics into one mesmerizing tale. While it’s daring to take on “On Broadway,” Tierney and the band convincingly rock hard on this classic, with a great Jacob solo and beautiful arrangement subtleties. The band takes three great bites out of the Gershwin “Porgy and Bess” songbook apple: “My Man’s Gone Now” with a tricky extra beat on the intro and closing, a plaintively lovely and off-kilter “Summertime”, and perhaps, best of all, a sensational version of “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”

Bernstein/Sondheim’s “West Side Story” is tapped for “Somewhere” and “Something’s Coming/Cool,” both very attractive, hip versions. The duo of Tierney and Christian take a dreamy “America the Beautiful” into goose-bump territory. Over a decade and a half into a great career, the Tierney Sutton Band deals up another wonderful recording, full of great performances, that is a must for old fans and those new to the uniqueness of this band.