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Tessa Souter: Beyond The Blue
by Victor L. Schermer
Vocalist Tessa Souter is deservedly becoming treasured among jazz fans and musicians alike. She combines the sonority, vocal range and discipline of a classical lieder soprano with subtle and sultry jazz inflections. Everything she sings is meaningful, well thought out and in good taste. She works with the best instrumentalists and has a consummate grasp of both swing and the modern jazz idiom. All these elements are manifest in her newest album, Beyond the Blue, where Souter takes familiar themes ...
Continue ReadingTessa Souter: Beyond The Blue
by Dan Bilawsky
The mere mention of jazz-classical hybridization may draw scowls from jazz fans who've encountered more than their fare share of ill-conceived projects that trade in on this idea, but vocalist Tessa Souter avoids all the usual pitfalls. Beyond The Blue isn't about joining these worlds at the hip; it's about using the frameworks and melodies of classical works as the foundation and scaffolding for new ideas. Souter saunters her way through a dozen alluring pieces built around ...
Continue ReadingTessa Souter: Half Moon Bay, February 13, 2011
by Bill Leikam
Tessa SouterDouglas Beach HouseHalf Moon Bay, CaliforniaFebruary 13, 2011 There are times, at the Douglas Beach House (aka the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society), when a singer comes in and subtly moves the audience to a deeper attention than might otherwise be the case. So it was, when jazz vocalist, composer, and lyricist Tessa Souter took the stage on Sunday, February 13, 2011. Aside from Souter, the quintet consisted drummer Akira Tana, bassist Dan ...
Continue ReadingTessa Souter: Obsession
by Joel Roberts
New York-based, British-born Tessa Souter is a jazz singer with interests far outside the jazz world. On Obsession, Souter mostly shuns well-trodden standards and classic jazz fare in favor of a varied set of rock, pop and Brazilian tunes. With her rich contralto and crystal-clear diction, Souter delivers lyrics with a theatrical, but never overdramatic, flair. Nothing sounds forced or hurried in her delivery; she's a relaxed, confident singer who succeeds at creating a romantic, vaguely tropical ...
Continue ReadingTessa Souter: Obsession
by Victor L. Schermer
Tessa Souter is a consummate and dedicated vocalist who is deservedly on the rise in the New York jazz scene and elsewhere. A contralto who sings with both precision and emotion, her impressionist and minimalist interpretations bring out the meanings of her songs while remaining true to their melodic lines. Following Listen Love (Nara Music, 2004) and Nights of Key Largo (Venus Records, 2008), Obsession continues her in-depth preoccupation with the nature and experience of love, but with a slight ...
Continue ReadingTessa Souter: Obsession
by AAJ Italy Staff
Per capire che ci si trova davanti a un'artista raffinata e complessa basta ascoltare la tesa e languida cover di “Eleanor Rigby," posta proprio in apertura di questo sorprendente Obsession. Tessa Souter è una cantante senza dubbio fortemente imparentata col jazz, ma incline a un concetto di musica nel quale predominano saldi appigli alla forma-canzone classica. Nel suo ultimo album sceglie di cantare una manciata di ottime cover (oltre al già citato episodio beatlesiano vanno segnalate una incalzante “White Room" ...
Continue ReadingTwo by Tessa Souter: Listen Love and Nights Of Key Largo
by Victor L. Schermer
There are two types of fine jazz singers. On the one hand, there are those who take a tune, swing it and play with it in various ways, whether with scat, shifts in accent and harmony, or even with deconstructions that re-interpret the song entirely. The man who started all that was, of course, Louis Armstrong. Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan and Kurt Elling, in different and more sophisticated ways, also fall into this category. On the other hand, there are ...
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