The Art of the Song Captured by Tierney Sutton and Tamir Hendelman on "SPRING"

 

Tierney Sutton and Tamir Hendelman-Spring-BFM Music

The deservedly acclaimed vocalist Tierney Sutton and the virtuosic pianist Tamir Hendelman join forces in an intimate duo creating a beautiful album, Spring. Self-produced by Sutton and released in February 2026, this album finds these two superb musicians telepathically complimenting each other’s ideas with thoughtfulness and finesse. Take an unrushed hour of your time to listen to how well the art of the song can be realized in the hands of two masters. Spring should please even the most discerning listeners.

I first caught Sutton and her husband/guitarist Serge Merhaud when they performed in a quartet with vocalist Kate McGarry and guitarist Keith Ganz at the Velvet Note in Alpharetta, GA back in July of 2016.  You can check out my review of that performance here. Unfortunately, Ms. Sutton was suffering from laryngitis on that date, and while she bravely soldiered through the performance, she was clearly struggling to deliver her best.

Sutton has been nominated for a Grammy nine times, and while she has been denied the prize so far, her repeated nominations speak volumes to this woman’s popularity and talent. Tamir Hendelman is a formidable pianist who has been the preferred accompaniest to the likes of Natalie Cole, Barbara Streisand and Roberta Gambarini, not to mention serving as the pianist with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. These two create magic.

If Spring is received as well as this fine work deserves, this album should receive another Grammy nomination and may finally garner Sutton a well-deserved Grammy win. Only time will tell.

Tamir Hendelman and Tierney Sutton (Photo credit unknown)

Spring is a season that speaks to rebirth, growth and promise. Spring, the album, takes that concept and invigorates the art of the song by reinvention, thoughtful interplay and a patient approach that allows Sutton to breathe new life and meaning into the lyrics of these beautiful songs. The music features compositions by Antônio Carlos Jobim, Paul Simon, George Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael, Peggy Lee and Michel Legrand. The title cut by the Brazilian guitarist/composer Dorival Caymmi was introduced to Sutton by Hendelman for this album. The wordsmith magic of Johnny Mercer and the legendary team of Alan and Marilyn Bergman (Alan served as a mentor to Sutton prior to his death in 2025) make this collection the perfect vehicle for these two to create an intimate, sensitive, musical conversation. Sutton is a consummate storyteller, and it’s never more apparent when the astutely chosen material gives her the framework on which to build her own imaginative interpretations.

“Double Rainbow” is a Jobim composition that opens the album. The pianist’s intro is glorious, and Sutton’s vocalese is transcendent, modulating effortlessly. Her voice is a supple instrument that leaps and dances with splendor and joy. Hendelman’s pianistic excursions are rich and lush.

“Waters of March,” another Jobim composition, was popularized in the original Portuguese on the release of the Brazilian chanteuse Elis Regina in 1973. The song is about the cyclical nature of life. Sutton’s voice and Hendelman’s tinkling piano introduce a rain-like shower of sound before she navigates the quick, pointillistic lines with precision and flexible accuracy. Playful, hopeful and fun.

Paul Simon is perhaps one of the most respected composers of the last fifty years. His folk ballad “April, Come She Will” is transformed by Sutton, a dusky metaphorical story of the seasonal markers of the coming and going of a lover. Hendelman’s intro glistens. The two bring a eloquence to this story, a realization that the relationship inevitably changes with seasons and time, never to be possessed, just to be remembered.

Song genie George Gershwin is represented on his “S Wonderful,” a show tune from the musical Funny Face from 1927. The song was written for a dance scene that featured Fred and his sister Adele Sinatra. In the film version from 1957, it united Fred Astaire, this time with Audrey Hepburn. This song is cheerful and high-spirited and while it doesn’t seem to link back to the spring theme of the album, Sutton opens it with her own unique intro. She scats in unison with the pianist's lines and he offers some of his most dynamic solo playing of the album. The two quicken the pace as Sutton instrumentalizes her voice effectively and with speed. A daring arrangement that is joyous and impressive.

Hoagy Carmichael wrote “I Get Along Without You Very Well” with the lyrics inspired by a poem. It was handed to Carmichael anonymously and was later found to be written by Jane Brown Thompson. The poignant lyrics are sung so earnestly by Sutton and brilliantly accompanied by Hendelman. The pianist is impressionistic, layering his ideas and interweaving with Sutton’s marvelously emotive voice.

The popular vocalist Peggy Lee is credited with composing “Thing’s Are Swinging.” Sutton and Hendelman raise the temperature by taking this to full throttle swing mode.

Brazilian composer Dorival Caymmi’s “Spring” offers a sensitive ballad, and it becomes the title of the album. With lines like “Spring holds in her arms a bunch of daffodils, the possibility, a warmer day will arrive” this song erupts with hope and renewal. Sutton’s voice expresses the sentiment honestly. Her own personal experiences are knitted into fabric of the music, enlivening the message in these lyrics. Hendelman’s piano never fails to be complimentary.

Tierney Sutton (photo credit unknown)

My personal favorite on Spring is a song that has been recorded by multiple chanteuses  including Ella, Sarah, Cassandra, Carmen, Betty, Sinne, Bette and Norah, to jazzers like Phil Woods, Stanley Turrentine, George Garzone, and Stan Getz. This popularity tells you the song offers a lot to work with for a creative musician. No matter what version you have loved this one should touch you. “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” is written by Tommy Wolf with lyrics by Fran Landesman. The song is a quiet gem and Sutton and Hendleman make this one their own. The story is a classic barstool lament, a cry in your beer ballad. Sutton’s interpretation is evocative with pathos and resignation, and Hendelman’s piano allows her the space. Sutton has a sixth sense of how to play this one and she captures the essence of the emotional reality that is so perfectly portrayed by this classic.  The reality that a lost love can have long lingering feelings of regret.

The remaining album offers additional surprises with Frank Loesser’s waltz- like “Spring Will Be A Little Late this Year,” featuring some beautiful piano work by Hendelman. Johnny Mercer’s swinging “Spring, Spring, Spring” which finds Sutton exercising some of her acrobatic vocalese to great effect and skillfully navigating the quick-worded lyrics to this playful tune. Hendelman features some fine stride-like, ragtime inspired piano work in accompaniment.

Michel Legrand was a master of composing for films. His “You Must Believe in Spring” was written for the French film “Le Demoiselle de Rochefort” and has been a source for several interpretations, probably the most famous was a collaboration by Bill Evans and Tony Bennett from their album Together Again from 1976. Sutton and Hendelman do a touching take on this lovely ballad. It’s important to revive some of the canon's  great film scores and LeGrand's work certainly fits that bill. Film scores often add to people’s experience and connect viewers with the films, and they are an important part of our artistic heritage. Hendelman’s solo was sublime. Sutton offers a gorgeous vocal interpretation that would certainly put a smile on Legrand's face. 

The closing composition, “L.O.V.E.” was written by the German  composer/bandleader Bert Kaempfert specifically for Nat Cole King. This one is full of rambunctiousness and requires swift, skilled virtuosity by both Hendelman and Sutton. The two don't disappoint and the song is a pure romp of joy.

              

Steve Gadd sets the groove with "Gadditude"

The drummer Steve Gadd has been on my radar ever since I became aware of a super group formed back in the mid-seventies called Stuff. The band was formed by bassist Gordon Edwards and was made up of some of New York City's finest session players. The band included Edwards on bass, Richard Tee on keyboards, Cornell Dupree and Eric Gale on guitars and at first Chris Parker on drums, but soon Steve Gadd became the mainstay drummer of the group. Stuff  had a soulful, funky sound that was driven by Gadd's propulsive in the pocket groove.Working with a who's who in popular music and jazz, from Carly Simon and Eric Clapton to Chick Corea and Jim Hall, Steve Gadd's work was ubiquitous throughout the seventies, eighties and nineties. It was in 1975 where Steve' distinctive drum and bugle style was heard on the intro to Paul Simon's mega-hit "Fifty ways to Leave Your Lover." My personal Steve Gadd piece da resistance came in 1977, on Steely Dan's fabulous Aja.  On this pop/jazz masterpiece, Gadd's inimitable syncopated drum work in concert with Wayne Shorter's soaring saxophone solo, especially in his explosive work at the coda, cemented his reputation as a drummer of extraordinary skill, inventiveness and unerring rhythmic drive.

On Gadd's latest release, unfortunately titled Gadditude ( Who thinks up these names?),  the drummer is joined by his band mates Larry Goldings on keyboards, Michael Landau on guitars, Walt Fowler on trumpet and Jimmy Johnson on bass. Individually these guys are superb musicians. Together they have toured as the back up band for James Taylor for several years and on this album their empathetic and exceptional cohesiveness is joyfully on display.

The opening track, Michael Landau's "Africa," is a wonderfully expressive vibe, featuring Landau's wavy guitar lines, Larry Goldings, modulating organ, Jimmy Johnson's walking bass line and Gadd's understated snare shuffle. Together they create a hypnotic, unmistakably hip groove that allows Walt Fowler to play a Miles-like circa Bitches Brew muted trumpet over the top. Very mesmerizing and expertly played

On Larry Goldings tune "Ask Me" Gadd uses his signature marching snare to pilot this dreamy, slow ballad.
Goldings switches from organ to the wispier sound of the Fender Rhodes for this expressive piece. Walt Fowler's uses the warm tone of his flugelhorn in this song that recalls some of Art Farmer's later work. Guitarist Landau has a penchant for interjecting beautifully lingering notes that bend and hang in the air like anguished cries.

The group takes to Keith Jarrett's "Country" like putting on a pair of old, familiar shoes. The 3/4 shuffle created by Gadd's brushes with Johnson's slender bass lines, and Golding's gospel-like Wurlitizer work gives the well known song a solemn  and reverential sound.  Walt Fowler's trumpet work is like a ray of sunshine streaming into the chapel windows on a Sunday morning, beautiful and uplifting. Landau's distinctive country treatment on guitar is full of feeling and soul.

I have always found keyboardist Larry Goldings to be a creative well spring. On his "Cavaliero" the staccato vamp is carried by Gadd's relentlessly cadenced snare and bass drum work while Goldings plays punctuatedorgan lines. It is Landau's Ventures-like guitar sound that dominates the song, with its twangy West Coast reverb in clever contrast to Goldings blues dominated B3 growl and Fowler's Herb Alpert-like trumpet treatment on the chorus that makes for great fun and a stirring arrangement.
The funky "Green Foam" is a classic organ trio based blues that is reminiscent of some Booker T & TheMGs or Junior Wells with a direct bow of the hat to Sonny Boy Williamson's "Good Morning Little School Girl." The tune shifts to a slow smoldering blues mid-song, with some gutsy soulful guitar work by Landau that is especially tasty.

Abdullah Ibrahim's "The Mountain" is given a sauntering groove by the understated Gadd, allowing Landau and Goldings beautiful interplay to shine through. Landau's guitar sound is so fluid and slinky, at times reminding me of Dire Straights Mark Knoffler here. Larry Goldings is a superb accompanist who knows the right sound to elicit from his myriad of keyboard options at any given time.

Landau's "Who Knows Blues" is another shuffle with a down home feel. Fowler uses the muted trumpet and Golding's pulses on the Hammond B3 with Gadd and Johnson providing the backbeat. Landau takes a slow, deliberate solo that drips with the sound of Gadd's old Stuff band mate Cornell Dupree. A funky Crescent City inspired groove.

On another Keith Jarrett tune "The Wind Up", the group lets loose and has some fun. The tune opens up full speed ahead with Fowler and Landau matching lines as Gadd, Johnson and Goldings create the groove.
Johnson's bulbous bass lines are big and round as the group takes flight. Landau's guitar solo is particularly infectious as he swirls his way through the viscous groove in liquid fashion. Fowler solos over the top in a bright and punctuated style. It is Gadd and Goldings that keep this vibe going with gusto. Goldings uses the B3 to beautiful effect playing soulfully within the rhythmic lines to perfection. Steve Gadd is at his most precocious as his pointillistic playing finishes the piece. The band is heard to laugh at the end of the piece like relieved riders after a particularly harrowing amusement park ride. These guys obviously  had a lot of fun making this music and it shows.

Radiohead's spacey "Scatterbrain" finishes this rewarding album in ethereal style. The sound created by the group floats as Walt Fowler's horn soars above the atmospheric groove.

This album grows on you each time you play it. Put it on your cd player or Ipod and simply sit back and enjoy. Steve Gadd's staid, subtle performance throughout is a testament to his ability to let the music speak for itself with a total lack of hubris.