Biography
Tierney Sutton has earned widespread praise as a jazz vocalist whose crystalline tone and interpretive sensitivity illuminate both contemporary material and classic standards. Her style fuses the understated restraint of midcentury West Coast singers such as June Christy with the adventurous phrasing of forward-looking artists like Sheila Jordan. After releasing her first album in 1998, she received critical recognition for a series of Telarc recordings rooted in the standards repertoire: Blue in Green in 2001, Dancing in the Dark in 2004, and I’m with the Band in 2005, the last of which marked her initial Grammy nomination. Four of her projects have reached the Top 20 on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart, among them the understated Paris Sessions from 2014, recorded with French guitarist Serge Merlaud. Her 2016 collection The Sting Variations, reimagining songs by Sting, brought an eighth Grammy nomination. In addition to performing, Sutton has taught at the Thornton School of Music at USC, the Los Angeles College of Music, and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. She returned to the jazz Top 20 in 2019 with the film-music project Screenplay and revisited her intimate duo format with Merlaud on Paris Sessions 2 in 2022.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1963, Sutton spent her formative years in Milwaukee, where she studied piano and performed locally. Jazz remained outside her experience until she encountered pianist and singer Mary Jaye while working at the Heidel House Resort in Green Lake, Wisconsin. At Wesleyan University, where she majored in Russian language and literature, a concert by Betty Carter deepened her commitment to the idiom. After graduation she attended Berklee College of Music in Boston and studied saxophone with Jerry Bergonzi. Relocating to Los Angeles in 1994, she assembled the Tierney Sutton Band with pianist Christian Jacob, bassist Trey Henry, and drummer Ray Brinker. As a member of the Baha’i faith, she fostered a collaborative ensemble ethos drawn from its principles. The group quickly established itself on the Los Angeles jazz circuit and issued its debut, Introducing Tierney Sutton, on the Challenge label in 1998.
Sutton next moved to Telarc, beginning with Unsung Heroes in spring 2000. Blue in Green, issued the following year, paid tribute to pianist Bill Evans through material he had performed or composed. The 2002 album Something Cool expanded her palette to encompass country and Broadway influences alongside jazz. She also appeared regularly with Buddy Childers, Dave MacKay, and the Les Brown Orchestra. Three further Telarc releases followed: Dancing in the Dark, which reached number 11 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart in 2004; I’m with the Band in 2005; and On the Other Side in 2007. Both of the latter two albums earned Grammy nominations and broadened her national audience. Desire, released in 2009, interwove standards with spoken excerpts from the Baha’i text The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah and received another Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
American Road appeared in 2011, again earning a Grammy nomination while featuring works by Stephen Sondheim, George Gershwin, Raymond Scott, and Leonard Bernstein. After Blue, a 2013 homage to Joni Mitchell, included contributions from Al Jarreau, Hubert Laws, and the Turtle Island String Quartet. Paris Sessions, recorded in 2014 with Serge Merlaud and bassist Kevin Axt, joined the earlier projects in reaching the Billboard Jazz Albums Top 20. On 2016’s Sting Variations she revisited Police-era songs such as “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free,” “Message in a Bottle,” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.”
Beyond performing, Sutton taught in USC’s Jazz Studies Department for more than a decade. In 2008 she became Vocal Department Chair at the Los Angeles Music Academy in Pasadena, and in 2018 she joined the faculty of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music as its first full-time professor of vocal jazz. Screenplay, issued in 2019, adapted twentieth-century film themes, climbed to number 14 on the Jazz Albums chart, and garnered a Grammy nomination. That same year she married guitarist Serge Merlaud; the pair reconvened for the duo sequel Paris Sessions 2 in 2022, which again featured Hubert Laws.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1963, Sutton spent her formative years in Milwaukee, where she studied piano and performed locally. Jazz remained outside her experience until she encountered pianist and singer Mary Jaye while working at the Heidel House Resort in Green Lake, Wisconsin. At Wesleyan University, where she majored in Russian language and literature, a concert by Betty Carter deepened her commitment to the idiom. After graduation she attended Berklee College of Music in Boston and studied saxophone with Jerry Bergonzi. Relocating to Los Angeles in 1994, she assembled the Tierney Sutton Band with pianist Christian Jacob, bassist Trey Henry, and drummer Ray Brinker. As a member of the Baha’i faith, she fostered a collaborative ensemble ethos drawn from its principles. The group quickly established itself on the Los Angeles jazz circuit and issued its debut, Introducing Tierney Sutton, on the Challenge label in 1998.
Sutton next moved to Telarc, beginning with Unsung Heroes in spring 2000. Blue in Green, issued the following year, paid tribute to pianist Bill Evans through material he had performed or composed. The 2002 album Something Cool expanded her palette to encompass country and Broadway influences alongside jazz. She also appeared regularly with Buddy Childers, Dave MacKay, and the Les Brown Orchestra. Three further Telarc releases followed: Dancing in the Dark, which reached number 11 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart in 2004; I’m with the Band in 2005; and On the Other Side in 2007. Both of the latter two albums earned Grammy nominations and broadened her national audience. Desire, released in 2009, interwove standards with spoken excerpts from the Baha’i text The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah and received another Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
American Road appeared in 2011, again earning a Grammy nomination while featuring works by Stephen Sondheim, George Gershwin, Raymond Scott, and Leonard Bernstein. After Blue, a 2013 homage to Joni Mitchell, included contributions from Al Jarreau, Hubert Laws, and the Turtle Island String Quartet. Paris Sessions, recorded in 2014 with Serge Merlaud and bassist Kevin Axt, joined the earlier projects in reaching the Billboard Jazz Albums Top 20. On 2016’s Sting Variations she revisited Police-era songs such as “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free,” “Message in a Bottle,” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.”
Beyond performing, Sutton taught in USC’s Jazz Studies Department for more than a decade. In 2008 she became Vocal Department Chair at the Los Angeles Music Academy in Pasadena, and in 2018 she joined the faculty of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music as its first full-time professor of vocal jazz. Screenplay, issued in 2019, adapted twentieth-century film themes, climbed to number 14 on the Jazz Albums chart, and garnered a Grammy nomination. That same year she married guitarist Serge Merlaud; the pair reconvened for the duo sequel Paris Sessions 2 in 2022, which again featured Hubert Laws.
Albums
Good People
2024
Good People (feat. San Gabriel Seven)
2024
After Blue
2013
Christmastime Is Here
2006
Dancing In The Dark
2004
Blue In Green
2001
Unsung Heroes
2000
Singles
