Customer Reviews

Something Cool

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Thanks, tippinin44, for bringing us back to reality! And thanks to Tierney Sutton for allowing me to escape it for 60 minutes!

Jazz vocals seem to be all the rage these days, with the charge being led, unfortunately, by "sub-standard" performers/singers like Diana Krall. However, there is another group of singers and performers (Tierney Sutton, Christine Tobin, Paula West, Patricia Barber) that brings us is closer to the music.

Ms. Sutton, I agree, has a well-trained voice. For god's sake, she should; she's head of the jazz vocal dept. at USC. And why that should be a strike against her is beyond me. She has a wonderful voice, can set virtually any mood from sultry to sweet, and has surrounded herself with outstanding musicians.

I must admit to being more fond of her CD "Unsung Heroes" than this one, but the way she catwalks through "Route 66," the way she croons on "Crazy," and the way she stomps and jives in her rendition of "Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead" is simply wonderful.

Just as there are different interpretations of classical music and debates about who is or who isn't the best pianist, violinist, conductor...so there are debates about jazz and vocalists. Great! There are enough for all tastes. Here's my "key" to the ones I mentioned: if you like a good crisp dry white wine, then Tierney is your woman. If you go for a scotch and a smoke, then it's Christine Tobin. If it's a dingy night club in San Francisco, try Paula West. And if your tastes are rougher, then Patricia Barber should do the trick.

In any case, happy listening. This is a great CD!

I saw the sweet, clever, catlike Tierney Sutton perched on a stool at Blues Alley in a sequined top a few years ago. She puts on a great show. She has marvelous purring technique, she always hit notes dead center of the pitch. Without a pitch cue, she sang acapella for nearly five minutes before the rest of the band came in and came in right on pitch. Incredible. I asked her if she had perfect pitch, and she said "no", but it sounded like it to me. She never hits a note flat or sharp. She has perfect breath/ volume control, she breathes the song. (listen to the begining of Route 66.)

Best songs, most immediately appealing and enchanting are ballads and andante pieces. Ones with true emotion. "Something Cool" on the other hand, when she wants to, shows her ability to hold an audience in the palm of her hand. "Comes Love", "Refections", "Alone Together" "Out of this World" are luminous!

The French for singing, "chant", has the same root as "enchanting". Entertaining music should be enchanting, cast a spell. Tierney & group, on some of these tracks, shows off technique and imaginative arrangement. "Ding dong the Witch" (scat) is irritating, but it wouldn't be memorable if it were sung straight! So some wonderful songs, some that take getting used to. Her great technique is captured on this album. Back-up band is spot-on perfect, especially Trey Henry on bass.


I found after I listen to this album, more, I guess I get used to some of the things, which initially seemed jarring, so it really grows on you. Her rendition of "Route 66" shows wonderful control of pitch and volume and is one of my favorites. What Tierney and gang are trying to do, as a Jazz group, not Pop, is to find innovative ways of presenting songs we are quite familiar with, to catch our attention. Mostly, they succeed.

Recording quality is truely State of the Art, recorded with the listed audiophile equipment, especially on the SACD version.
These is a prolonged "roseny" string bass note and solo at the end of "Route 66" that will really show you what SACD's (and a hi-end stereo) are all about! Accuracy in the first two octaves - 20-40hz and 40-80hz - are amazingly difficult to achieve, but done spectacularly well here!

Tierney Sutton is a miracle. There isn't a jazz singer of either gender in her class. She has wit with sensitivity, musicality with visceral feeling, sass with lyricism, and a wonderful voice - actually THREE wonderful voices, because one of them is like corn-silk, another like honey, and a third that swings with panache. She inhabits the title-song with such imagination she virtually narrates it, using phrasing and melody with piercing precision. This precision, by the way, is the marker of TRUE sensitivity, not the mawkish yowling of so many singers pathetically eager to show us their "feeling" by wearing it on their sleeves.

So why only 4 stars? This is a purely subjective quirk of mine. I loved Sutton's previous two discs (Blue In Green and Unsung Heroes) because they risked being "dark" and often indeed displayed a haunting quality. Something Cool is brighter, more extroverted; many will prefer it. I like it too, but there are few if any musicians who so easily inhabit that place where darkness meets lyricism, and it's the thing I cherish the most about this superb singer.

Finally, this is a BAND, and it shows. Christian Jacob is just fantastic here (pinao), and there's a cohesion and some indefinable spirit of FAMILY about this recording. Listen to the great arrangement of I've Grown Accustomed To His Face and see what I mean. It sounds effortless because the deeper efforts have long since been made; these players know and love one another and now they can relax and swing and make beauty.

I predict that many years from now, students of jazz singing and simple lovers of great music will look back and wish they had lived in The Era of Tierney Sutton. She's that good, and that precious.

I saw the sweet, clever, catlike Tierney Sutton perched on a stool at Blues Alley in a sequined top last year. She puts on a great show. She has marvelous purring technique, she always hit notes dead center of the pitch. Without a pitch cue, she sang acapella for nearly five minutes before the rest of the band came in and came in right on pitch. Incredible. I asked her if she had perfect pitch, and she said "no", but it sounded like it to me. She never hits a note flat or sharp. She has perfect breath/ volume control, she breathes the song. (listen to the begining of Route 66.)

Best songs, most immediately appealing and enchanting are ballads and andante pieces. Ones with true emotion. "Something Cool" on the other hand, when she wants to, shows her ability to hold an audience in the palm of her hand. "Comes Love", "Refections", "Alone Together" "Out of this World" are luminous!

The French for singing, "chant", has the same root as "enchanting". Entertaining music should be enchanting, cast a spell. Tierney & group, on some of these tracks, shows off technique and imaginative arrangement, but can destroy the mood of the song. "Ding dong the Witch" (scat) is irritating, but it wouldn't be memorable if it were sung straight! The tempos in "The Best is Yet to Come" and "Show me" seem too fast.

So some wonderful songs, some that take getting used to and an irritating one. Her great technique is captured on this album, which is it's strength and sometimes it's weaknesss. Back-up band is spot-on perfect, especially Trey Henry on bass.

For an album of more immediate appeal, (more even enchanting?) Tierney Sutton's new Sinatra Tribute "Dancing in the Dark". She shows how she can weave a more consistent spell, when she focuses more on feeling.

I found after I listen to this album, more, I guess I get used to some of the things, which initially seemed jarring, so it really grows on you. Her rendition of "Route 66" shows wonderful control of pitch and volume and is one of my favorites. What Tierney and gang are trying to do, as a Jazz group, not Pop, is to find innovative ways of presenting songs we are quite familiar with, to catch our attention. Mostly, they succeed.

I wish I could raise my rating to 5 stars, now.

Recording quality is truely State of the Art, recorded with the listed audiophile equipment, especially on the SACD version.

As a jazz vocalist (musician), I have to say Tierney Sutton is a jazz singer's singer! Ding Dong was inspirational, Show me is phenomenal. The tempo and time changes kept me interested. Some reviews have said that mixing the mood with ballads and uptempo, ruined it for them. Folks, thats jazz. Tierney Sutton is a jazz musician. I listen to this CD and feel inspired. The tunes were perfectly mixed with uptempo and ballads. It shows how versitle she is and how interesting she is as a musician. Can't wait to see her live someday! Absolutely Great! Highly recommend to all jazz singers/musicians. Go Tierney!

There aren't enough stars in the universe to give this album. Simply put, it's the best vocal jazz album of the past decade. To begin with, Tierney Sutton is one of those rare humans who makes it all look so ridiculously easy. Listening to her is like watching Michael Jordan play basketball, or Willie Mays play baseball, or hearing Dietrich Fiescher-Dieskau sing lieder. Because she's so effortless, you may not notice right away that her intonation, diction and phrasing is consistently perfect. Then there's her phrasing: Believe me, you've never heard "Route 66," "The Best Is Yet to Come" , "Comes Love" or--the album's highlight--"Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" sung like this. And finally, the tempos. Ms. Sutton and her bandmates can go 0-60 and back to 0 in 5 seconds without leaving a tiremark on the pavement. Enough. Buy this album. Now. You owe it to yourself.

having just heard Ms. Sutton and her band live in Oakland, I cannot recommend the experience highly enough as a live performance. She refers to her band as the best musicians on their intruments in jazz, and I wouldn't go that far, but I don't want to disagree. Christian Jacob is a marvelous, eloquent pianist who articulates his notes beautifully. His melodic lines don't go where you expect, and they always go to good places. I can speak as highly of her bassist and drummer, but more important is the energy and cohesion of the group, which has been playing and recording together for many years. The whole of this band is far greater than the sum of its parts. Ms. Sutton is a dynamic, engaged and delightful performer, laudably appreciative of her fellow musicians. It was an evening of remarkable musical skill, subtlety and wit. But you'd expect nothing less after listening to her recorded work. Something Cool has some great music on it. I would single out the transition on "Accustomed to his/her Face" from the vocal to the piano solo as a moment that had me in tears for the sheer spirit of it.

Boy, oh boy, is this a good one! I love all of Tierney's CDs, but this is my new favorite. 'Something Cool' a great mix of tunes, and the musicality is delicious on each one. Tierney clearly has a sense of jazz vocal history, as she can bend a phrase like Sarah and swing hard like Ella. She is, however, very much her own person, a unique and fresh artist. Her voice is clean and clear, her melodic sense is magical, and she is always amazingly aware of the harmonic waters in which she swims. Her trio is beyond solid, a terrific band. Yo, Tierney - great album! You're the best!

Tierney Sutton is an excellent singer. If you don;t know her, you should. Get this (or any of her CDs - or ALL of them), and immerse yourself in a fabulous musical experience. The only thing better than hearing Tierney on SACD is seeing her live!

After her ultra-cerebral "Blue in Green" last year, Tierney is back with a great mix of jazzed-up My Fair Lady standards, a few cool blue cerebral tracks and a few of her signature teflonrailedlooptheloop scats. You have to hear "Ding-Dong, the Witch is Dead!" as a Tierney Scatted Standard. She could have trashed that witch just by singing her into oblivion! It's funny virtuosity, a rare combination.

And let me be the first to point out that her band is SO tight. . .This CD is also a jazz bass feast and Trey Henry is a lover - he riffs his bass up down and around Tierney's voice in a way that I wish I could describe without being asterisked out by Amazon . Christian Jacob's piano and Ray Brinker's drums/brushes are just Right There Where You Want Them To Be. Awesome Band. Awesome, Tierney.