"World Class. Must-See." - Los Angeles Times
Top Ten Best Jazz CD of the Year London Times
Best Jazz Vocal CD of the Year Ken Dryden, New York Jazz Record/NPR Critics Poll
Best Jazz Vocal CD of the Year W Royal Stokes, NPR Critics Poll
Best Jazz Vocal CD of the Year Jay Hunter. WVCR 88.8 FM
Jazz Album of the Week London Evening Standard
Jazz Album of the Week London Times
Tessa Souter, vocals
Justin Taylor, piano
A protégé of jazz vocal legend Mark Murphy, who called her a “true musician,” “very moving” and “an extraordinary talent,” Anglo-Trinidadian vocalist, Tessa Souter, whose distinctive and exotically beautiful style of jazz evokes Andalusian Spain, North Africa and the Middle East, as well as the Celtic folk music she grew up listening to, has established herself as an uncommonly creative vocalist and songwriter over the past two decades....
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"World Class. Must-See." - Los Angeles Times
Top Ten Best Jazz CD of the Year London Times
Best Jazz Vocal CD of the Year Ken Dryden, New York Jazz Record/NPR Critics Poll
Best Jazz Vocal CD of the Year W Royal Stokes, NPR Critics Poll
Best Jazz Vocal CD of the Year Jay Hunter. WVCR 88.8 FM
Jazz Album of the Week London Evening Standard
Jazz Album of the Week London Times
Tessa Souter, vocals
Justin Taylor, piano
A protégé of jazz vocal legend Mark Murphy, who called her a “true musician,” “very moving” and “an extraordinary talent,” Anglo-Trinidadian vocalist, Tessa Souter, whose distinctive and exotically beautiful style of jazz evokes Andalusian Spain, North Africa and the Middle East, as well as the Celtic folk music she grew up listening to, has established herself as an uncommonly creative vocalist and songwriter over the past two decades.
Ever since the release of her 2004 debut, Listen Love, she has cast an increasingly wide net, from 2008’s all-star Nights of Key Largo (Venus), to contributing original lyrics to instrumental jazz standards, and re-imagining classic British rock on 2009’s Obsession (Motéma). Her all-star Third Stream project, Beyond the Blue (Venus-Motéma, 2013), featuring Steve Kuhn and spotlighting Souter’s own “exhilaratingly mature lyrics” (Chicago Examiner) to classical gems by Albinoni, Chopin et al, was a London Sunday Times Jazz Record of the Year in 2013.
Her latest project, Picture in Black and White (NOA), is a riveting musical journey inspired by her discovery at age 28 that her estranged birth father was Trinidadian and black, having been brought up to believe he was Spanish and white. It is the second of her albums to be a London Sunday Times magazine Jazz Record of the Year. It was also WVCR FM DJ Jay Hunter’s Best Vocal Disc of 2018 and a London Evening Standard Jazz Album of the Week, among other acknowledgements.
Justin Taylor is an up-and-coming artist to watch in this century whose musical talent, creativity and virtuosity make him an artist extraordinaire. A Towson University graduate with a degree in Jazz Studies and Commercial Music, he has been performing for over 24 years on both local and national stages with some of the music industry’s most prolific and well-known artists in jazz, gospel, and R&B. Equally skilled in these styles of music, Justin is also a writer, producer, and engineer. He has performed or opened for artists such as Grammy Winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum, Grammy-nominated R&B & Hip Hop artist Jaheim, Contemporary R&B and Pop singer K’Jon, Baltimore’s very own National recording artists Maysa Leak and national recording saxophonist Corinthia Cromwell, Tim Warfield, Warren Wolf, Eddie Hrybyk and several other prominent local and national artists.
Because of Justin’s versatility, he is one of Baltimore’s most sought-after young pianists. He has recorded on several national and international artists’ albums in his career and performed as an artist in residency at Towson University.
Tickets: $20 in advance/$23 at door/$10 full-time students with ID
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