Dancing in The Dark

After Tierney Sutton paid tribute to Bill Evans with Blue in Green, she salutes another of her influences with Dancing in the Dark, "inspired by the music of Frank Sinatra." The results are mellower than what Sutton fans might expect--it's less the hipster Sinatra than the one of such concept albums as In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning and Only the Lonely--and the tempos never rise above an easy swing. But it's a beautiful listen, and although there's an orchestra, it's not really a "with strings" album, which have been uneven throughout jazz history. Fewer than half the selections have strings, and those strings have been very subtly arranged (and conducted) by pianist Christian Jacobs. It's Sutton's usual trio--Jacobs, bassist Trey Henry, and drummer Ray Brinker--that is the primary accompaniment, and in Alec Wilder's "I'll Be Around" Jacobs shares a dazzlingly beautiful line with Sutton's wordless vocalise. And because "Fly Me to the Moon" has always been taken in either 3 or 4, Sutton acknowledges both by singing it in 7. Those are merely two memorable moments in an album that's full of them. --David Horiuchi