“On her amazing album Listen Love, she delivers powerful versions of nonstandards … in a crystal-clear voice with diamond-cut phrasing and a slight tinge of melancholy. She’s a gem.”
“‘Caravan’ glistens with Sephardic curves as it works its spell somewhere between sleeping and waking… Souter’s gorgeous ad-libbing lights up the night with dance.”
“She makes the song her own with subtle shifts of dynamics, timing, sonority and phrasing. That makes her a true artist. And as an artist, she is an impressionist and a minimalist, giving the music a modern feel.”
“The debut of an important new jazz singer … she sings with the authority and passion that usually comes from long experience.”
Announcer – WPKN-FM Radio
“Ms. Souter dazzles and stuns with her vocal expertise on a potpourri of classics and a few that she adds her own lyrics to. It’s a jam packed world out in jazz vocal land but Ms. Souter lends an innate musicality and tastefulness that separates her from the herd … Caravan is done with a gorgeously referenced Middle Eastern feel that sounds more right than the original. Pharoah Sander’s The Creator Has A Master Plan is even better as performed by Ms. Souter than Leon Thomas’s version as she makes the music and lyrics come together with added depth to the spiritual aspects of the piece. An outstanding new release.”
Announcer – WNTI-FM Radio
“… rich and ravishing … so assured, so comfortable, so in command … you put on and immediately think, ‘wow!’ and know you can settle back and be bathed in a simply beautiful voice possessed by someone who has learned how to use it … – she composes, too.”
Not many vocalists can sing Jimmy Rowles’ “The Peacocks” (which contains plenty of challenging interval jumps) with the beauty and effortless grace of Tessa Souter. But, then again, few singers would dare to emphasize long tones throughout most of a CD, making not only every note count but every sound. Tessa Souter’s repertoire on Listen Love, which includes “Caravan,” her lyrics to Pat Martino’s “Willow,” “Left Alone” and songs by Jon Lucien, Sting and Jobim plus “The Creator Has A Master Plan” and her own “You Don’t Have to Believe,” is as inventive as her laidback approach. Utilizing a sparse rhythm section that includes guitarist Freddie Bryant (with Miles Okazaki in his place on “The Creator Has A Master Plan”), bassist Essiet Essiet, Chembo Corniel on percussion and sometimes pianist Mark Berman, the New York-based singer shows that she knows how to contrast sound with silence and how to combine quiet jazz with the smoldering passion of Middle Eastern and Indian music. Her nearly unaccompanied version of Billy Strayhorn’s “Daydream” and her singing over the bass pattern of Essiet on “The Creator Has A Master Plan” shows her depth, versatility and her confidence in the sound of her voice.
