Tierney Sutton Band: Desire

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Stephen Holden wrote in the New York Times: "Meditations on materialism: on Wednesday evening that was the jazz singer Tierney Sutton’s description of the concept behind her newest album, 'Desire' (Telarc), from which she performed six numbers at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. As Ms. Sutton and her excellent longtime band — Christian Jacob (piano), Kevin Axt (bass) and Ray Brinker (drums) — turned songs of avarice and power-mongering, like 'My Heart Belongs to Daddy' and 'Whatever Lola Wants,' into miniature jazz suites, her usually sweet singing acquired delicate bite. Indignation and sarcasm don’t come easily to Ms. Sutton, for whom jazz singing is a platform … to explore standards in a dreamy style. … The closest she came was in a percussive, playfully defiant 'The Lady Is a Tramp,' sung in the first person. Elsewhere, songs composed in major keys were often reharmonized to sound unmoored. A typical number began with a section of prayerful, nonverbal vocalizing that slid into a song treated as a tone poem blocked into sections through which Ms. Sutton’s voice wove smoothly in and out" (3/21/09).