Patrick Williams: Home Suite Home

BFM Jazz
By Ric Bang
Buy CD: Home Suite Home

Who gets the credit for a great jazz album? It’s usually the performing artist(s), and that almost always means an instrumentalist or vocalist. Well, that isn’t the case here; all the credit belongs to Patrick Williams. He composed and arranged the music; he selected the instrumentalists and vocalists; and he was the driving force behind it all.

Williams may not be a household name among jazz fans, but recording artists and producers certainly know and appreciate him. He has written the music for more than 65 feature films, 100 television films and 25 television series. He has won four Emmys and two Grammys — out of 19 nominations — and he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, for his orchestral work An American Concerto.

Needless to say, he had his pick of the 18 instrumentalists and three vocalists who participated on this album. Every serious jazz fan will recognize all of them, starting with vocalists Patti Austin, Tierney Sutton and Frank Sinatra Jr. The instrumentalists include pianist Dave Grusin, drummer Peter Erskine, trumpeter Arturo Sandavol, trombonist Bob McChesny, and saxists Bob Sheppard and Tom Scott.

The true “stars,” however, are the eight tracks composed and arranged by Williams. Four are tributes to members of his family: children Elizabeth, Greer and Patrick B., and his wife of 53 years, Katherine. The rest relate to musicians Williams reveres: “A Hefti Dose of Basie,” for composer/arranger Neal Hefti and Count Basie; “That’s Rich” (drummer Buddy Rich); “I’ve Been Around” (Frank Sinatra), sung by Frank Sinatra Jr. and Tierney Sutton; and “52nd & Broadway,” sung by Patti Austin.

The arrangement voicings are second to none; the interplay between the brass, reed and rhythm sections is to die for. And the result swings like crazy; I’ve never heard better!

The descriptor genius gets overused, but no other adjective applies to Williams, for what he has created here.  You’ll never tire of listening to what he hath wrought.

The Tierney Sutton Band: American Road

BFM Jazz
By Ric Bang
Buy CD: American Road

Let’s get one thing straight before we go any further: The Tierney Sutton Band is not a unit headed by a jazz vocalist who is supported by a quartet of great musicians. This is, rather, a quintet of exceptional musicians, one of whom uses her voice as an instrument.

Whatever the designation, this unit has been flying below my radar for too many years. It’s certainly not like these folks just arrived on the jazz scene; they’ve been performing together for 18 years. They have released nine albums in the past dozen years, received three Grammy Award nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album, and Sutton was selected by Jazzweek as 2005’s Vocalist of the Year.

Sutton, a Wisconsin native, is a graduate of Boston’s Berklee College of Music; she taught in USC’s Jazz Studies Department and, in 2008, became the Vocal Department Chair at the Los Angeles Music Academy in Pasadena, California. The band is a legally incorporated unit; they make all musical — and business — decisions together. They decide on a tune to be added to their “library,” and the style/treatment to be utilized; they then rehearse it until satisfied with what they’ve created. In musician’s vernacular, the result is a “head arrangement.”

Nothing remains constant; they vary tempos, keys, melodic lines and harmonies during a performance, and everything meshes wonderfully.

The quintet consists of Sutton, pianist Christian Jacob, two bassists (Kevin Axt and Trey Henry) who play both acoustic and electric instruments, and drummer Ray Brinker. Sutton’s voice is in a higher range than most jazz vocalists; she tends toward soprano rather than alto. That said, her range is extensive, and her ability to use her voice as an instrument is exceptional. She enunciates clearly, whether on a soulful ballad (“Wayfaring Stranger”) or a rocking show tune (“On Broadway”). Additionally, she scats with the best I’ve ever heard, and at tempos that approach the speed of light.

Most impressive, though, is her interplay with the other musicians.

Jacob, born in France, is another Berklee College grad; he received numerous awards as a student and taught there for a period. His first professional job was with Gary Burton, after which Jacob served as performer, composer and arranger for Maynard Ferguson for a number of years. Jacob is an outstanding musician, in a class with Oscar Peterson.

Both Axt and Henry are exceptional; at times they alternate tunes, and at times they play together. Are they great? Axt has appeared on more than 150 albums, and it’s difficult to find a band or orchestra — jazz or classical — with whom Henry hasn’t worked. Both men are in a class with Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen, as far as technique is concerned.

Brinker graduated from North Texas State, one of the world’s finest jazz study colleges. He, Jacob, Axt and Henry are close friends, and have worked together for years. As for Brinker’s skill, he’s a master with brushes; I’ve never heard better. And he often uses his fingers and palms to achieve unique rhythm patterns.

American Road is a splendid collection of folk, traditional and standard compositions. If “Amazing Grace,” “Summertime,” “My Man’s Gone Now,” “Tenderly,” “The Eagle and Me,” “Somewhere” and “Something’s Coming” aren’t enough to convince you, then this band’s rendition of “America the Beautiful” will bring tears to your eyes.

This is the best release I’ve heard in years!

Tierney Sutton Band: Desire

Telarc
By Ric Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 7.2.09
Buy CD: Desire

It's showtime, folks!

This album is a wonderful combination of a masterful quartet and a vocalist unlike any you've ever heard before.

The surprising thing: Although the group has been together for 15 years, and this is its eighth CD since 1998, it's the first time I've heard them. Shame on me!

One also wishes the group received better publicity outside the East Coast area, where it works most of the time.

Sutton was born in Wisconsin in 1963 and attended Connecticut's Wesleyan College of Music and Boston's Berklee College of Music. She was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Vocal Competition in '98; her first album, released that same year, was nominated for the Indie Award for best jazz vocal album.

Several subsequent albums also have received nominations for Grammy and jazz vocal awards. Her voice is pitched higher — and she sings more softly — than most vocalists, but her style is second to none. Admittedly, much of that is due to the backing she receives from her wonderful quartet.

All the arrangements are the result of a total-group approach to each tune.

Christian Jacob is, without doubt, one of the best, most lyrical and swinging pianists I've heard since Oscar Peterson. Jacob was born in France in 1958, attended and eventually taught at Berklee, and has toured with luminaries such as Gary Burton and Maynard Ferguson. Jacob's early training was classical, and that's evident in his jazz work.

Two bassists (Trey Henry and Kevin Axt) are used, and both are excellent; drummer Ray Brinker completes this great group.

Believe me, you've never heard more clever arrangements of these 11 standards. After listening to the first track (“It's Only a Paper Moon”), you can't wait to hear what these musicians do to subsequent tunes such as “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” “Fever,” “Cry Me a River,” “Whatever Lola Wants” and “Skylark.” The listener's attention is riveted.

After sampling Desire, you'll want to get her other albums ... just like I do.