Unsung Heroes

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Tierney Sutton is a genuine jazz singer, a clear-voiced soprano with sure pitch and diction who concentrates on musical substance. Her approach can suggest Sheila Jordan or Norma Winstone, and she's equally effective at quick bop, medium-swing tempos, and moody ballads. The "unsung heroes" she invokes are the great instrumentalists who have inspired her and whose compositions are seldom sung, like Joe Henderson ("Remember Me" is his "Recordame"), Clifford Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, and Wayne Shorter. Her phrasing is often trumpet-like on the improvised solos, and she gets terrific support from a trio led by pianist Christian Jacob and guest soloists who include Stan Kenton veteran Buddy Childers on flügelhorn. There's an almost unearthly purity of vocals in her subtle version of "Spring Is Here," but the absolute highlight is the Jimmy Rowles tune "A Timeless Place (The Peacocks)," with lyrics by Winstone. It's a demanding line with difficult harmony that Sutton weaves perfectly with Jacob and Gary Foster on alto flute. --Stuart Broomer

Tracks:

Cruise Control
Divided We Stand
I'll Just Pick
Day 444
Rock and Roll Park
Attila the Hun
Kat Food
Go for Baroque

Album Details

Southern Fusion/Rock Virtuosos the Dregs' 1981 Release. For this Joint, the Group Featured Steve Morse on Guitar and Banjo, Andy West on Bass, Drummer Rod Morganstein, Allen Sloan on Violins and Violas and T. Lavitz on Keys and Sax. Includes 'go for Baroque', 'Day 444', 'Atilla the Hun' and Five More Instrumental Tracks.

Customer Reviews:

EXCELLENT!.......2005-10-17

I have seen The Dregs about 5 times and as someone who has been going to concerts for 30 years and has seen many of the best, The Dregs remain one of the premier live bands I have seen. This kind of music just doesn't get much better and I enjoy it even more because I know there is no studio trickery involved, they can pull this off live with gusto!

The version of 'Cruise Control' that they do in concert is extended and contains a middle part where the guitar, bass, violin and keys trade riffs and it is a site to behold. As the solos go around they get shorter and shorter until it seems they are passing a hot potato among them, and they never miss a beat. An incredible display of superior musicianship!

One of my favorite tracks from this disc is 'I'll Just Pick', a sweet country/bluegrass track that will have you toe-tapping in no time. You cannot go wrong with this CD, just get it already!!

Best Concert Ever.......2005-09-02

I actually saw the Dregs in concert to support this album. The CD sounds polished and well produced. Unbelievably they sounded the same live!!! This is the best assembly of musicians to record together. You will not regret owning this album.

Another great Dregs album.......2004-01-08

I've been a Steve Morse fan for a long time and own several Dregs albums, so my expectations were pretty high. I was not disappointed. This is among the best of their work. Traditionally, there is usually at least one barouque piece and one Country piece on any given Dregs album, and "I'll Just Pick" is by far the best of the Country efforts on any of the other albums I've heard. T Lavitz's piano work is inspiring, and Morse's playing is as great as always. Other notable efforts include Steve's nylon-string on "Go For Baroque", Andy West's work on "Kat Food", and the way-cool syncopation on "Day 444". My only complaint was the price. It totally cheezes me off that they have to import Dregs' albums from Japan! But that's not the band's fault, so I still give them 5 stars.

Stop Over.......2003-09-27

I guess it was back around 1982,The Dixie Dregs were performing in Philadelphia somewhere and had a future engagement in New York in a couple of days.When the owner of the establishment that I was employed by at the time(in the quiet little town of Kingston,NJ) managed to book them for a night- in the smokey little stripmall bar (that many of us at the time called home away from home)next to a Shop Rite supermarket.Back then everything was top 40 and
arena rock,I tell ya when I heard these guys for the first time I was blown away,I've never seen nor heard any band that was tighter than these guys,they were promoting "Unsung Heroes" at the time.After we heard them many of us ran out and collected there earlier work.When your in a small venue (600 legal limit 300)and you hear
Cruise Control,Twiggs Approved,Ice Cakes,Take it off the top,and Divided we Stand,you are spoiled from then on!the owner of the bar managed to book them the following year,and also the year Industry Standard was released,same little bar, Blood Sucking Leeches!! the rest is history,I have an autographed Unsung Heroes vinyl and an Industry Standard vinyl with Mark O'Connors'signature,if you follow country music at all he has become a fixture at the Grand Ol Oprey.
T.Cala, Brick,NJ

The Dregs' best album, and few bands were ever better.......2003-05-12

The name Dixie Dregs was misleading--it always made people assume the band would sound like the Charlie Daniels Band or Molly Hatchett. So for "Unsung Heroes" the name was changed to "The Dregs". The music remained the same, instrumental rock played by five virtuoso musicians in a dizzying array of styles, with music and arrangements as intricate yet insanely catchy as anything either progressive rock or fusion has ever produced. Solos are kept short, and at some point during an album you're bound to hear every possible combination of two instruments play in unison (listen for the violin and bass on "Attila the Hun").

This is the Dregs' best studio album, with a fantastic set of compositions by Steve Morse, the world's greatest guitarist. By now, the formula for a Dregs album was pretty well established: a couple of rockers ("Cruise Control" and "Rock & Roll Park"), a couple of progressive rock tracks ("Divided We Stand" and "Attila the Hun"), a ballad ("Day 444"), and some bluegrass ("I'll Just Pick"), funk ("Kat Food"), and baroque ("Go for Baroque"). "Divided We Stand", "Kat Food", "I'll Just Pick", and "Go for Baroque" are the best songs the Dregs have done in each of their respective genres. In fact, "Divided We Stand" is perhaps the Dregs' best track ever, and unlike anything else you've ever heard. "Cruise Control", which had previously appeared on the "Freefall" album, is reborn in a stripped-down, harder rocking version. "Rock & Roll Park" gives keyboardist T Lavitz a chance to show that he can also play soprano sax. The climax of "I'll Just Pick" has Morse repeating an 8-bar melody, as one by one, bassist Andy West, Lavitz, and violinist Allen Sloan join in with counterpoint melodies. This was Sloan's last album before leaving to become an anesthesiologist, and his simple yet gorgeous solo on "Day 444" is the highlight of that song.

Tracks:

Remember Me (Recordame)
Early Autumn
A Timeless Place (The Peacocks)
Bernie's Tune
Spring Is Here
Joy Spring
All For One (Speak No Evil)
Indiana/Donna Lee
When Lights Are Low
Con Alma

Amazon.com

Tierney Sutton is a genuine jazz singer, a clear-voiced soprano with sure pitch and diction who concentrates on musical substance. Her approach can suggest Sheila Jordan or Norma Winstone, and she's equally effective at quick bop, medium-swing tempos, and moody ballads. The "unsung heroes" she invokes are the great instrumentalists who have inspired her and whose compositions are seldom sung, like Joe Henderson ("Remember Me" is his "Recordame"), Clifford Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, and Wayne Shorter. Her phrasing is often trumpet-like on the improvised solos, and she gets terrific support from a trio led by pianist Christian Jacob and guest soloists who include Stan Kenton veteran Buddy Childers on flügelhorn. There's an almost unearthly purity of vocals in her subtle version of "Spring Is Here," but the absolute highlight is the Jimmy Rowles tune "A Timeless Place (The Peacocks)," with lyrics by Winstone. It's a demanding line with difficult harmony that Sutton weaves perfectly with Jacob and Gary Foster on alto flute. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews:

Unsung Heroes - Tierney Sutton.......2007-03-09

This CD is a very polished production. Tierney Sutton, along with the musicians on the recording, are " in the pocket" on each of the selections. Sutton's range and agility along with her stylistic interpretations of some well known tunes are delightful. I'm glad to have it in my music collection.

songs (usually) without words.......2005-07-27

What a clever concept album this is! But it's great fun anyway.

What she, or all four, have done is is either put lyrics to Jazz Standards without lyrics or sing lyrics to Jazz standards where few have ever heard the words. Hence the title. She said once in concert at Blues Alley that this album is was so clever, no one got it. She has since done albums less obscure.

The tunes are all Cool or Bebop much of it associated with Stan Getz. How refreshing it is to hear "Early Autumn", the tune that catapulted Stan Getz to public attention and made him a household name with Woody Herman's Wild Herd II. It will be forever associated with him, hear it with words. Now if we could only get Stan to play sax! The arrangements on this and all her albums are created jointly, a collaboration, not the girl with the backup band. "The Peacocks", "Con Alma", "Spring is Here", "When Lights are Low" are also tunes played often by Stan the Man. Even "Indiana", whose best version is by Lester Young, was also a Getz favorite. And here they all have words!

"Bernie's Tune" was popularized by Gerry Mulligan. "Donna Lee" is a Charlie Parker tune, "Speak no Evil" is Wayne Shorter, etc etc.

The good news is Tierney sings these with great technique, and her voice is an outstanding jazz combo instrument, not just song. The bad news is some tunes are not usually sung for good reason, great tunes, not great lyrics.

So technique and originality, and this is nothing if not original, sometimes drive and emotional communication is in the back seat. But there are some great songs!

Deserves 3 1/2 stars to 4 based upon my tough grading system. Not as compelling as her "Something Cool" or "Dancing in the Dark", but a worthwhile effort nevertheless.

Before You Buy.......2005-01-21

I purchased this CD based on all the positive reviews here. I have now put the CD back in the archives of music I will probably never pull out again. There is just way too much "scat" on most of the numbers. I just can't tolerate scat. In the middle of the third listen I just could not take it anymore. Banished to the archives it went. The musical backup is top notch and recording quality is superior but does not overcome bob idddy bop pob dah dah dee la dah dopp and so forth. But hey, If scat is your thing you will love it.

Pure Artistry.......2004-06-03

This album takes more than one listening to fully appreciate. The songs do not "reach out" and grab one on the first hearing probably because one is trying to synchronize the superb orchestration, the voice, the interpretations. The voice reminds one of her co-singer, Cheryl Bentyne, not in tone but in enunciation, clarity and fragility. I must point out that the instrumentation is knockout, just incredible.

There is a mood on this CD that is more playful than soulful, not as deeply blue as the Frank Sinatra CD, but just as inspiring in its own way. "Remember Me" is one of those that grows with repeated hearings; "A Timeless Place" is a wonderful ballade, "All for One" a celebration of Ms. Sutton's brilliance and the final "Con Alma" a sweet, soulful conclusion to one of the best works around.

Buy this for "Donna Lee".......2004-01-15

This was Tierney Sutton's second album, and it was a harbinger for the tremendous "Something Cool." While it's not at the level of the latter (only because nothing else is, really), it's abolutely worth having. The album's highlight is Ms. Sutton's medley of "Back Home Again In Indiana" and Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee"--probably the most unlikely medley in history, and one that works. Another is "Bernie's Tune". Here, Ms. Sutton demonstrates her ability to sing at breakneck speed with perfect diction and intonation. As always, her sidemen--the wonderful Christian Jacob, Trey Henry and Ray Brinker--are perfect. Although it's not quite as consistent as her later albums, you can't go wrong with this one. Buy it.