New York-based vocalist Tessa Souter /’su:ter/ is a “beguiling artist who infuses everything she interprets with voluptuous intelligence and keen emotional insight.” (KQED Arts) Mentored by jazz legends Mark Murphy, who called her “a true musician and extraordinary talent, remarkable and very moving,” and NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan, who puts her “at the top of my list of great talent,” Souter’s critically-acclaimed voice and penchant for exploring music mostly untouched by other vocalists, has “set her apart as one of the few exceptional standouts in the crowded field of female jazz singers.” (Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times) She has cast an increasingly wide musical net, from her Flamenco-tinged debut, Listen Love (Nara, 2004), to Picture in Black and White (NOA, 2018), a meditative exploration of her bi-racial heritage, to her upcoming release Shadows & Silence: The Erik Satie Project, her sixth album, due out in 2025.

“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, originals such as her own mesmerizing ‘Usha’s Wedding,’ superb arrangements of classical stuff by Chopin, Beethoven, Debussy and others, and modern jazz tunes by Kenny Barron and Wayne Shorter, who gave her not only permission to record her lyric to ‘Ana Maria’ but shared writing. [NB: Kurt Elling recorded it, with additional lyrics by Elling, on his Grammy-nominated album, Wildflowers Volume 1.] It’s the sound of an artist doing things her own way.”

Souter has performed at some of the world’s most notable venues, including SF Jazz, the Kennedy Center, JALC, Mezzrow,  London and Edinburgh Jazz Festivals, the Blue Notes in New York, Beijing and Shanghai and multiple tours of the philharmonic halls of Russia. In 2015 she was the subject of a one-hour WXXI PBS TV show at the Rochester International Jazz festival, where she has performed a record seven times. “Tessa Souter has become a favorite of (festival) fans, not only because of her beautiful voice and amazing artistry but because of her warmth as a person. She is a beautiful human being who relates to her audiences as well as any artist we’ve ever presented,” said John Nugent, co-producer and artistic director of the Rochester International Jazz Festival, speaking to The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle