Sophomore slump? Not for Tierney Sutton. After a memorable debut in Unsung Heroes, the willowy singer of elegant purr and urgent phrasing focuses on an even more intensely personal project--singing a well-paced set of 14 songs, all but one written by or associated with legendary pianist Bill Evans. Tierney maneuvers her hand-in-glove trio (no guest horns) through Evans's ineffable book, and comes up with a date that's perfectly relaxed and fitting. She sidles through quiet moments and breezy bits, engineers tempo shifts, applies gentle gestures, and edgily improvises. Instrumentals like "Very Early" and "We Will Meet Again" earn fresh lyrics from Sutton and others, yet Tierney manages to evoke Evans's disquieting genius at each turn of phrase, as pianist Christian Jacob, himself cut of Evans-esque velvet, counters with arching, heartfelt lines, sometimes eerily evocative of the master. Each tune sets a unique internal pulse, a rhythmic point-of-view that invests the arrangement with individuality--fleet dotted-eighths on "Autumn Leaves," a tentative ostinato on Miles Davis's "Blue in Green," a slinking "You and the Night and the Music"--all obliquely recalling Evans own inimitable, unmistakable phrasing. Knowing touches include inviting in Evans's last drummer, Joe LaBarbera, to airbrush "Waltz for Debby/Tiffany," overdubbing harmony and adding a bass on "Sometime Ago," and daring to air back-to-back ballads, as Evans often did. As tributes go, she's mined pure gold. --Fred Bouchard