Tessa Souter at Sandler Center For The Performing Arts

Unassumingly virtuosic and emotionally genuine, New York-based, London-born vocalist Tessa Souter has recorded five critically acclaimed CDs - Listen Love (Nara, 2004), Nights of Key Largo (Venus, 2008), Obsession (Motema, 2009), Beyond the Blue (Motema-Venus, 2012), and her latest, Picture in Black and White (NOA, 2018). “There are many singers who can wow us with vocal prowess, yet there’s something raw and real about hearing Tessa Souter sing,” wrote John Payne in the LA Weekly. “Basically a self-taught musician, she is not afraid to take big risks in her performances with surprising takes on often just as surprisingly un-standard repertoire, from jazz arrangements of ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ Cream’s ‘White Room’ and Nick Drake’s ‘River Man’ to covers of Brazilian compositions by Milton Nascimento and Dori Caymmi, modern jazz tunes by Wayne Shorter and Kenny Barron, originals such as her own mesmerizing ‘Usha’s Wedding’ and superb arrangements of classical stuff by Chopin, Beethoven, Debussy and others...

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Unassumingly virtuosic and emotionally genuine, New York-based, London-born vocalist Tessa Souter has recorded five critically acclaimed CDs - Listen Love (Nara, 2004), Nights of Key Largo (Venus, 2008), Obsession (Motema, 2009), Beyond the Blue (Motema-Venus, 2012), and her latest, Picture in Black and White (NOA, 2018). “There are many singers who can wow us with vocal prowess, yet there’s something raw and real about hearing Tessa Souter sing,” wrote John Payne in the LA Weekly. “Basically a self-taught musician, she is not afraid to take big risks in her performances with surprising takes on often just as surprisingly un-standard repertoire, from jazz arrangements of ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ Cream’s ‘White Room’ and Nick Drake’s ‘River Man’ to covers of Brazilian compositions by Milton Nascimento and Dori Caymmi, modern jazz tunes by Wayne Shorter and Kenny Barron, originals such as her own mesmerizing ‘Usha’s Wedding’ and superb arrangements of classical stuff by Chopin, Beethoven, Debussy and others. Picture in Black and White explores the tangled roots of her biracial heritage. It’s the sound of an artist doing things her own way.”

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