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 ESP: The Erik Satie Project, her sixth album, due out in May 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, 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. It’s the sound of an artist doing things her own way.”

The New York Times critics pick and two-time UK Sunday Times magazine Jazz CD of the Year, Souter has performed at some of the world’s most notable venues, including the philharmonic halls of Russia, SF Jazz, the Kennedy Center, JALC, Mezzrow,  London and Edinburgh Jazz Festivals, the Blue Notes in Beijing and Shanghai. She was the subject of a one-hour WXXI PBS program at the Rochester International Jazz Festival, where she has performed a record seven times.