A demo-quality audiophile CD - and great performance
rash67 | USA | 12/08/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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!"
Beautiful
D. Webb | 12/09/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a wonderful SACD recording. The vocals are crystal clear and the bass is magnificantly deep. The performance itself is warm and inviting....I am an instant fan!"