Home » Jazz Articles » Live Review » Tierney Sutton and Tamir Hendelman at the Jazz Forum
Tierney Sutton and Tamir Hendelman at the Jazz Forum

Courtesy Scott Lichtman
There’s a variety of reasons that every recording Sutton has made in the last decade has been nominated for a 'Best Jazz Vocal Album' Grammy.
Tierney Sutton
vocalsb.1963

Tamir Hendelman
pianoThere's a variety of reasons that every recording Sutton has made in the last decade has been nominated for a "Best Jazz Vocal Album" Grammy. Among these are her incredible voice control, unique selection of themes and compositions, and her chemistry with collaborators. This evening, she brought this successful approach in compact form to the intimate music/dinner club Jazz Forum, emphasizing songs about Spring, love, and renewal, in tandem with frequent co-performer Tamir Hendelman. The two have a musical relationship going back 20 years, one deepened by virtual arranging and streaming performance experiences during the COVID pandemic.
The pair opened with a "warm up," the up-tempo "S'Wonderful," in which Sutton demonstrated her scatting abilities. Hendelman countered with an agile left hand on the piano, alternately walking and striding the bass line while punctuating the melody with chordal clusters.
The pair then offered an extended sequence of Spring songs and mash-ups. These included "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," and "Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year," the latter popularized by

Sarah Vaughan
vocals1924 - 1990

Ella Fitzgerald
vocals1917 - 1996

Joni Mitchell
vocalsb.1943
The mastery and chemistry of the two performers was consistent throughout the set. Foremost, Sutton demonstrated a level of vocal control that is hardly surpassed. For instance, she not only knows when to apply vibrato, but can vary the depth and velocity of that technique. Her range is elastic, ranging from a deeper chest voice contralto to "early Joni Mitchell highs." Musically, she transforms both melodies and solos into muted trumpet phrasings reminiscent of

Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
Stepping outside the canon of well-known standards, Sutton placed her most attention-grabbing songs near the end of the set. "You Can't Rush Spring," by singer/composer Ann Hampton Calloway, is a melancholy ballad that Calloway and Sutton have recorded as a duet. Sutton described the piece as worthy of being considered a standard. The sensitive melody rests on a continuous swirl of harmonic colors (e.g., C#7b5 to D7#5#9, anyone?). Hendelman applied a slow Bossa ostinato in his left hand while inserting light fills akin to raindrops landing in reflective puddles. The lyrics heightened the sentimental mood:
There'll come a morning when the frost will end and when your broken heart will mend;
But these are wonders only time can bring...
You can't rush spring.
The most stunning selection was Jimmy Buffet's "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On." Written for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, the lyrics ostensibly open with mention of a watch whose time never changes, then transitions to what happened that August of 2005:
And it poured,
the earth began to strain,
Pontchartrain buried the 9th Ward to the second floor.
At the end of the piece, there was a brief hush in the audience before enthusiastic applause broke out. Thus went another brilliant song selection by the vocalist.
The set closed with a Jobim waltz, "Double Rainbow." Sutton opened the piece mimicking bird calls similar to the sounds of the Brazilian percussion instrument, the cuica. Hendelman used this final opportunity to solo to raise the emotional stakes, making full use of the keyboard's range in lush waves of sound. Then Sutton joined in, vocalizing, to create one common musical expression. They ended the set where they began it, looking at each other and extracting the maximum musicality from the interaction.
Tags
Live Review
Tierney Sutton
Scott Lichtman
United States
New York
New York City
Ella Fitzgerald
Miles Davis
Ann Hampton Calloway
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