COULD YOUR PROFESSOR BE A GRAMMY WINNER? TIERNEY SUTTON, JAZZ SINGER AND USC TEACHER, IN THE RUNNING FOR MUSIC'S HIGHEST HONOR.Byline: Fred Shuster Music Writer Can a jazz chanteuse chan·teuse n. A woman singer, especially a nightclub singer. [French, feminine of chanteur, singer, from chanter, to sing; see chant.] also be a professor? Tierney Sutton Tierney Sutton (born June 28, 1963) is an American jazz singer. Sutton was born in Wisconsin and was educated at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to attending Berklee, Tierney Sutton attended Nicolet High School in the Milwaukee metro area. handles both roles with equal elegance. Currently Grammy-nominated for her sixth album, ``I'm With the Band,'' Sutton balances a busy touring and recording schedule with duties as a jazz vocal instructor with the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission . A versatile studio singer and concert headliner, Sutton's voice was featured in such films as ``The Cooler'' and ``Twisted,'' and has graced commercial spots for BMW BMW in full Bayerische Motoren Werke AG German automaker. Founded as an aircraft engine manufacturer in 1916, the company assumed the name Bayerische Motoren Werke and became known for its high-speed motorcycles in the 1920s. , Coca-Cola, Dodge and J.C. Penney. Along with Sutton, Grammy's best jazz vocal album category includes Dee Dee Bridgewater Dee Dee Bridgewater (b. May 27, 1950) is an American Jazz singer. She is a two-time Grammy Award Winner, Tony Award Winner and Host of NPR's Syndicated Radio show "JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater". She is a United Nations Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). , Nnenna Freelon, Dianne Reeves and Luciana Souza. The award will be presented Feb. 8 at Staples Center. ``I didn't have any expectation it was going to happen,'' Sutton says of her Grammy nod. ``I have a lot of respect for all the others (in my category). I always thought it would be really neat to be nominated once. There's a strange mythology that there could possibly be one best art thing - but just to be thought of in the top tier is plenty for me. I'm the poster girl for, 'It's an honor just to be nominated.' '' Born in Wisconsin, Sutton wasn't exposed to jazz until college. After attending Boston's Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music, founded in 1945, is an independent music college in Boston, Massachusetts, with many prominent faculty, staff, alumni, and visiting artists. It has an enrollment of approximately 3,900 students and a 2004 faculty of approximately 430. , she became a semifinalist in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition in 1998, and her first solo effort, ``Introducing Tierney Sutton'' (1999), was released to rave reviews. The Boston Globe described her as having ``a honey voice ... with a touch of Ella Fitzgerald.'' Sutton, who moved to Los Angeles in the mid-'90s, says the title of the well-received ``I'm With the Band'' (Telarc Jazz) sums up her feelings about the project. ``These guys are my musical partners,'' she said. ``I've been extremely lucky to meet such fine players. If I was living in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , I could never keep a regular band with this caliber of players, because they'd be on the road all the time.'' That band includes Kevin Axt and Trey Henry (both bassists regularly play with Sutton), Ray Brinker (drums) and Christian Jacob (piano). Brinker and Henry, incidentally, both worked on Ray Charles' final album, ``Genius Loves Company,'' which swept the previous Grammy Awards. ``This is a hard city to be a jazz performer,'' says Sutton, who describes her age as ``younger than Madonna and older than Britney Spears'' and lives in the Valley. ``Some of the greatest players in the world live here, but the majority of the audience here are other musicians or people in the other arts. We are always going to New York to play because it's easier to get an audience there. L.A. is just hard. I don't take it personally because I once saw (the late premier jazz bassist) Ray Brown at Catalina's, and there were just seven other people in the place. ``But, hey, at least here you don't have to dig your car out of the snow.'' As a vocal instructor, Sutton, who performs in concert Friday at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara (for tickets, call 805-963-0761), gives private lessons to USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. students. In April, she performs three nights as part of the prestigious Jazz Lincoln Center series. ``I've seen a groundswell ground·swell n. 1. A sudden gathering of force, as of public opinion: a groundswell of antiwar sentiment. 2. of serious young singers in the last seven years, and they really want to do it right,'' said Sutton, who also turns up on another Grammy-nominated jazz album, ``Home of My Heart,'' by the Chris Walden Big Band. ``My students really keep me on my toes.'' Fred Shuster, (818) 713-3676 fred.shuster(at)dailynews.com 48th ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS Where: CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. (Channel 2). When: 8 p.m. Feb. 8. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: no caption (Tierney Sutton) |
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