Jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton admits it was the music of Cole Porter
that inspired her to make her latest album, Desire. Sutton updates two
Porter standards and several other classics from the Great American
Songbook, including a popular tune that made its debut on Broadway more
than 80 years ago.
"Love Me Or Leave Me, by Walter Donaldson
and Gus Kahn, first appeared in the 1928 musical "Whoopee!" Vaudeville
star Ruth Etting sang the original version, but it's been recorded
numerous times since, including versions by Billie Holiday, Sarah
Vaughan, and even a 1929 piano instrumental by "Fats" Waller. Here,
Tierney Sutton proves her talent for torch (passionate love) songs with
an interpretation that's part whimsy, part nostalgia.
Tierney
discovered jazz later than most. She graduated college with a degree
in Russian language and literature, but it wasn't until her training at
the Berklee College of Music that she took a serious interest in
singing jazz. Before long, Tierney had her first recording contract,
leading the New York Times to call her, "A serious jazz artist who
takes the whole enterprise to another level."
Singing Cole
Porter is familiar territory for Tierney Sutton. She says when her
band arranged an evening of Porter's music for a recent jazz festival,
it was time to revisit the Cole Porter Songbook. On Desire, Tierney
sings Porter's "It's All Right With Me" and "My Heart Belongs To
Daddy."
Helping out on the album are pianist Christian Jacob,
drummer Ray Brinker, and bassists Trey Henry and Kevin Axt, who along
with Tierney Sutton, turn up the heat on "Fever."
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