BFM Jazz
After Blue reviewed in Midwest Record
TIERNEY SUTTON/After Blue: In which we find Sutton leaving the comfort zone of her long time band and the great American song book (but not abandoning long time producer Elaine Martone) and turning her attention to the Joni Mitchell canon. Oddly, not inspired by "Court & Spark" but by Mitchell's 2000 covers album that was pretty much universally hated, Sutton finds the diamond in the rough, enlists cats like Larry Goldings. Hubert Laws, Turtle Island Quartet, Peter Erskine and others that get it and delivers a really interesting set of goods. A Mitchell tribute is a lot trickier to pull off in real life than it looks on paper but Sutton must have had this percolating in her blood before she even realized it. Quite the mighty bag breaker, long time fans of Sutton and the vibe she was providing should not be scared away from this change up, it's the best Joni Mitchell album in years.
Chris Spector