20th Annual Rosslyn Jazz Festival

By the time we arrived at the 20th Annual Rosslyn Jazz Festival on Saturday, The Bad Plus was wrapping up its performance. I could only heard the last two tracks, but I loved the energetic classical, jazz and rock fusion the trio was playing. So we just hung around to catch the final lineup: Tierney Sutton Band.

With such a fantastic rhythm section—Christian Jacob (piano), Kevin Axt (bass) and Ray Brinker (drums)—backing her up, Tierney Sutton brought down the joint. They “abused” (Sutton’s own muse) Frank Sinatra’s “In Other Words” and “The Lady is a Tramp” by completely reimagined the arrangements. They gave the audience a taste of the band’s forthcoming release with George Gershwin’s “Summertime” and “My Man’s Gone Now.” The group crafted its own vision of “Summertime” and Sutton incorporated her opera vocals into “My Man’s Gone Now.”

From hypnotic bass groove on “Fever” to the mellow tempo on “Something Cool” to the drums-vocals duet on “What a Little Moonlight Will Do,” it was a joy listening to the creative ways the band does covers. The show closed out with yet another fantastic swing on “Devil May Care.” During the concert, Sutton cleverly promoted her live album, which could be purchased for autograph, by pointing out the tunes she performed. I copped I’m With the Band, which consists of 16 tracks recorded live at Birdland on March 29 and 30, 2005, and I have been enjoying it since the ride home.