In this episode, JAZZIZ Backstage Pass host Brian Zimmerman sits down with Tierney Sutton, an eight-time Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist who has received a “Best Jazz Vocal Album” nomination for every project she has released in the last decade. A master interpreter of the Great American Songbook, Sutton takes an all-encompassing approach to the jazz canon. In addition to tribute albums by Frank Sinatra and Bill Evans, she’s also recorded entire albums dedicated to the work Joni Mitchell and Sting.
Tierney’s latest project is the album Screenplay, on which the Tierney Sutton Band sets their sights on the wide-ranging panorama of film music. The ambitious 19-track project is being released in five installments. The first was released in February and features the music of Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The second dials in on film music from 1939 to 1945.
In 2016 the Tierney Sutton Band, which features her longtime creative partner pianist Christian Jacob, was approached by legendary director Clint Eastwood to score his film “Sully” featuring Tom Hanks. Our conversation with Tierney picks up as she reminisces about what it was like to record with Clint Eastwood and how that experience shaped her decision to dedicate her follow-up project to the music of the silver screen.
Music heard in this podcast:
“Flying Home”
Clint Eastwood/Christian Jacob/Tierney Sutton
Sully (Music Inspired by the Motion Picture
“How Do You Keep the Music Playing?”
Tierney Sutton Band with Alan Bergman
Screenplay: Act I, The Bergman Suite
“The Windmills of Your Mind”
Tierney Sutton Band
Screenplay: Act I, The Bergman Suite
“Sound of Silence”
Tierney Sutton Band
Screenplay: Act III, Golden Age
