Since going her way from her long-time quartet, vocalist Tierney Sutton has created a deeply personal catalogue of moods and messages. This latest one is a glorious mix of intimate enunciations, mixing and matching her delicately clear voice with bassist Kevin Axt, guitarist Serge Merlaud and flutist Hubert Laws.
The melding of Laws and Sutton at times sounds like a gentle choral of voices as on the genteel “Zingaro”, a tender “A Child Is Born” and a resonant and personal “Chorado”. Sutton looks great in nylons, as Merlaud’s strings bounce perfectly with her on a dainty bossa of “Triste”, “Pure Imagination” and the upbeat “Doralice” while turning “Beautiful Love” into a rich fado. Sutton goes richly bohemian on “April in Paris/Free Man In Paris” and dream with Axt on “Cinema Paradiso/I Knew I Loved Him”.
As her career continues, Sutton seems content, like Tony Bennett, on not creating hit songs, but a hit catalogue, with this one adding to her depth.