Tessa Souter & Alan Blackman

Anglo-Trinidadian Vocalist Tessa Souter and Pianist Alan Blackman

Voted a Rising Star in the Downbeat Critics Polls two years in a row, award-winning New York-based vocalist, composer and lyricist, Tessa Souter’s “truly beautiful voice” (Sirius Radio) and penchant for exploring strikingly beautiful music mostly untouched by other singers has set her apart as “one of the finest and most fearless vocalists to have emerged in recent years.” (Boston Globe) She has made four critically-acclaimed albums: her Flamenco-tinged debut, Listen Love (2004); Nights of Key Largo (Venus, 2008), which garnered her a prestigious Swing Journal Gold Disc Award; Obsession (2009), for the multi-Grammy-nominated Motéma label; and her latest album, Beyond the Blue (Venus 2011- Motéma 2012), which was picked by the London Times as one of the Top Ten Jazz CDs of 2013, and which features jazz arrangements of classical gems adorned with her own “exhilaratingly mature lyrics.” (Neil Tesser, Chicago Examiner) She is currently recording her fifth album (with cellist Dana Leong, guitarist Yotam Silberstein, pianist Adam Platt, bassist Yasushi Nakamura and legendary drummer Billy Drummond) will be released this summer.

A protégé of jazz vocal legend the late Mark Murphy (read her tribute to him in a recent issue of LondonJazzNews HERE), whether performing at the Philharmonic halls of Russia – four sell-out national tours – or in the intimacy of a New York jazz club, “Souter is a beguiling artist who infuses everything she interprets with voluptuous intelligence and keen emotional insight.” (Andrew Gilbert, KQED Arts) Best of all, she delivers it with a wit and a wink worthy of the toniest joints in town.” (Time Out New York)

Joining Tessa will be Baltimore-based pianist, and award-winning composer Alan Blackman. Alan and his ensembles have performed at Blues Alley, the Kennedy Center, and many festivals and venues from San Francisco to New York. Recent performances have been with Donny McCaslin, Vardan Ovsepian, Ferenc Nemeth, Mike Pope, Warren Wolf, Tim Green, Alex Norris, and Sunna Gunnlaugs, among others. He was selected to be part of the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program at the Kennedy Center and has received grants from the Maryland State Arts Council in jazz composition, performance and world music as well as the Chamber Music of America's prestigious New Jazz Works multi-year commission. Arrangements and performances of his music have been featured on NBC's Parenthood, NPR's Talk of the Nation, and the new Hawaii Five-O, as well as Stephen King's movie, 1408.

Tickets: $17 in advance/$20 at door/$10 full-time students with ID