The Tierney Sutton Band

Overview

Two consecutive Grammy nominations for Best Vocal Jazz Album, Jazz Week Award for Vocalist of The Year, nominations for Jazz Journalist Association Awards, several #1 CDs on Jazz Radio and critical praise throughout the world...Jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton and her Band have ever-growing success.

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Related Sites

• The Tierney Sutton Band Web Site
• Tierney Sutton video

Program

About the Artists

In a world of overnight sensations, jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton's success has come from the road less traveled. A decision in the mid '90s to move to Southern California from her New England home resulted in a decade-long collaboration with her current band mates. A Wisconsin-born choir girl, unexposed to jazz until college, Tierney eventually found the best of the best-collaborators with their own impressive jazz pedigrees, from Natalie Cole to Diana Krall, from Ray Charles to Randy Brecker-pianist Christian Jacob, bassists Trey Henry and Kevin Axt, and drummer Ray Brinker. Ten years and six critically acclaimed CDs later, Tierney and her band demonstrate what collective consultation and dedicated teamwork can achieve. Reviewers repeatedly say that audiences experience a rare and powerful harmony, achieved by humble performers at the top of their game. The road less traveled in an impatient world.
A versatile studio singer as well as premiere entertainer, Tierney's voice was recently featured on Lions Gate's hit film The Cooler, starring William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin. She can also be heard in Paramount's Twisted, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Andy Garcia and Ashley Judd. And in 2004, Tierney and her band scored the independent feature film Blue in Green, which was released by the Unica Project. Tierney's unique voice is also regularly featured in commercials representing such organizations as BMW, Coca Cola, Dodge and J.C. Penney.
Educated at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Tierney became a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition in 1998. Her first solo CD, Introducing Tierney Sutton (1999), was released to rave reviews and nominated for a 1999 Indie Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
Later that year, Tierney signed with the Telarc Jazz label. On Unsung Heroes, released in March 2000, she took popular jazz standards that are usually performed instrumentally (Joe Henderson's "Recordame," Clifford Brown's "Joy Spring," Wayne Shorter's "Speak No Evil," Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma" and others) and recorded them with vocals. Soon she became one of the critics' most talked about jazz musicians.
Tierney's second Telarc project, Blue in Green, released in June 2001, was an album of music written by or associated with pianist Bill Evans. Featuring fourteen incredible performances from Tierney and her working trio, Blue in Green even included a guest appearance by former Evans drummer Joe La Barbera.
Something Cool, released in September 2002, quickly rose to #1 on the jazz charts and continues to garner extensive airplay across the U.S. and Europe. This adventurous recording includes a swinging rendition of "Route 66," Lerner and Loewe's "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," "I've Grown Accustomed To His Face" and "Show Me," Willie Nelson's "Crazy," and a fresh arrangement of "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead," one of Tierney's concert favorites.

Christian Jacob began playing piano at the age of four and graduated with First Prize from the "Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique" in Paris. In 1983, he enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and later joined the faculty.  While attending Berklee "Downbeat Magazine" honored Christian as "Top Collegiate Jazz Soloist" and he won the 6th Annual Great American Jazz Piano Competition in Jacksonville, Florida. Christian later toured with Maynard Ferguson, who produced Christian's two Concord recordings: "Maynard Ferguson Presents Christian Jacob" and "Time Lines".
Christian quickly began performing and recording with many of today's jazz legends Flora Purim and Airto Moreira, Randy Brecker, Miroslav Vitous, Phil Woods, and Bill Holman to name just a few.
By the mid 1990's Christian teamed up with vocalist Tierney Sutton, drummer Ray Brinker and bassist Trey Henry to record their first CD together, "Introducing Tierney Sutton". The band became known for its sophisticated, refreshing arrangements, and the obvious musical joy they felt when playing together. They developed into a tightly knit group that recorded six critically acclaimed CDs for Telarc Jazz. "Unsung Heroes", "Blue in Green", "Something Cool", "Dancing in the Dark", "I'm With The Band" and "On the Other Side". The later two were both nominated for a Grammy Award.
In the midst of his success with the Tierney Sutton Band, Christian released his third trio CD, this time on his own independent label WilderJazz. The 2004 release, "Styne and Mine", is a tribute to the music of Jule Styne, and reached #3 in the jazz radio charts.
The success of "Styne and Mine" motivated Christian to record "Contradictions" in 2006. The CD pays homage and offers another look at the original compositions of renowned pianist Michel Petrucciani.
Due to the popularity of his recordings in Japan, (According to The Japan Times he is one of the best-selling foreign jazz pianists in Japan) Christian was invited to tour and record his first live recording there. The resulting CD "Live in Japan" was released in November 2008 on WilderJazz and reached number 17 on the National Jazz Charts.
At present Christian Jacob continues to divide his time between his two bands (The Tierney Sutton Band and The Christian Jacob Trio) and arranging and composing for various artists. He continues to grow and transform with each project always striving for something new.

For more information on Christian Jacob, go to www.christianjacob.com and www.wilderjazz.com

Bassist Kevin Axt has been a freelance musician in LA since 1982. He attended USC on an orchestral scholarship, studying string bass with LA Philharmonic co-principal bassist, Dennis Trembley. He has performed, recorded and toured with artists as diverse as Natalie Cole, Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, Hank Jones, Phil Woods, Lalo Schifrin, Shelby Lynne, Queen Latifah, Placido Domingo, Pat Williams, Russell Watson, Patti Austin, Bobby Shew, Chuck Mangione, KD Lang, Dave Koz, David Benoit, Bob Florence, Jack Sheldon, Christopher Cross, Cheryl Bentyne and Melissa Manchester to name just a few. Kevin has performed on over 100 albums, and played in dozens of theater productions throughout Southern California. He is also an avid motorcylist. A resident of the San Fernando Valley, he continues to be one of the busiest bassists in LA.

Trey Henry is one of the most in-demand bassists in LA and has worked with everyone including Maynard Ferguson, Michel Legrand, Andre Previn, Henry Mancini, Herbie Hancock, Julie Andrews and Merv Griffin to name just a few. The list of recordings Trey has done is extensive and ranges from The American Jazz Philharmonic with Jack Elliot, Phil Woods and Ray Brown to The Jack Sheldon Big Band.

Drummer Ray Brinker is an alumnus of the heralded North Texas State University's (now University of North Texas) Jazz Studies program, and performed as a member of NTSU's Grammy-nominated 1 O'Clock Lab Band. Upon graduation, Ray toured worldwide with jazz high-note trumpet player Maynard Ferguson before moving to the west coast, where he has become a staple in the Los Angeles studio scene. Ray's performing and recording credits feature a diverse roster of artists, including Pat Benatar, Joe Cocker, David Lee Roth, Cinderella, Woody Herman, Brian Setzer, Jack Sheldon, Anita O'Day, Diane Shure, Randy Brecker, Mitch Forman, Chris Walden Big Band, Wayne Bergeron Big Band, Frank Gambale, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, Christian Jacob Trio, Tom Kubis Big Band, Veronique Sanson, Ray Charles, and countless others. Recently Ray recorded Ray Charles' 8-time Grammy Award-winning "Genius Loves Company" CD, featuring James Taylor, Norah Jones, Bonnie Raitt, Natalie Cole, Michael McDonald, Johnny Mathis, Dianna Krall, and others, as well as the soundtrack for the movie Ray, the Ray Charles story. Other film credits include Shrek, Chicken Run, Dear God, The Alamo, Brother Bear, Lilo and Stitch, Pluto Nash, Assault On Precinct 13, and Ray is heard on countless TV credits.   Ray has performed as a founding member, drummer, and co-arranger for the Tierney Sutton Band for 14 years, including 8 CDs and a Grammy Nomination for "I'm With The Band", the band's first live recording, recorded at New York's famous Birdland jazz club.