Tessa Souter Trio at Soapbox Gallery

“Exploring her mixed heritage, the expat with a penchant for Wayne Shorter raises songs to the level of poetry.” TOP TEN JAZZ RECORD OF THE YEAR, UK SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE“A singer and composer blessed with wide-ranging vocals and a post-bop sensibility, through which she filters sounds from West Africa, South America, the Caribbean and Andalusian Spain.” LONDON EVENING STANDARD, JAZZ ALBUM OF THE WEEKA protégé of jazz vocal legend Mark Murphy, who called her a “true musician,” “very moving” and “an extraordinary talent,” Anglo-Trinidadian vocalist, Tessa Souter has established herself as an uncommonly creative vocalist and songwriter in the past two decades...

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“Exploring her mixed heritage, the expat with a penchant for Wayne Shorter raises songs to the level of poetry.” TOP TEN JAZZ RECORD OF THE YEAR, UK SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE“A singer and composer blessed with wide-ranging vocals and a post-bop sensibility, through which she filters sounds from West Africa, South America, the Caribbean and Andalusian Spain.” LONDON EVENING STANDARD, JAZZ ALBUM OF THE WEEKA protégé of jazz vocal legend Mark Murphy, who called her a “true musician,” “very moving” and “an extraordinary talent,” Anglo-Trinidadian vocalist, Tessa Souter has established herself as an uncommonly creative vocalist and songwriter in the past two decades. Heralded by KQED Arts as “a beguiling artist who infuses everything she interprets with voluptuous intelligence and keen emotional insight,” ever since the release of her flamenco-tinged debut, Listen Love, she has cast an increasingly wide net, from contributing original lyrics to instrumental jazz standards, and re-imagining classic British rock on Obsession (Motéma, 2009) to her all-star Third Stream project, Beyond the Blue (Venus-Motéma, 2013). Featuring Steve Kuhn and spotlighting Souter’s own “exhilaratingly mature lyrics” (Chicago Examiner) set to classical gems, it was a London Sunday Times Jazz Record of the Year.Picture in Black and White, a tribute to her hidden ancestors and the second of her albums to be picked as a London Sunday Times Jazz Record of the Year, was inspired by her discovery at age 28 that her birth father was black. It is a riveting journey tracing the artist’s “musical DNA” from Africa, the Caribbean, Andalusian Spain and Celtic Britain, via the music of Wayne Shorter (who granted her shared writing credit on ‘Ana Maria’), Ornette Coleman, Milton Nascimento, Ayub Ogada, U2 and more. Jazzwise magazine gave the album 4 out of 4 stars, saying: "It is impossible not to be transfixed by the inventiveness and potency of Souter’s artistry,”  

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