Tessa Souter

As a jazz vocalist with a sumptuous sound and an unerring ear for fresh and unexpected material Tessa Souter knows her way around the American Songbook’s backpages. But ever since the release of her 2004 debut Listen Love, the Anglo-Trinidadian singer has cast an increasingly wide net, often contributing original lyrics to jazz standards. On her ravishing 2012 masterpiece ‘Beyond the Blue’ (Motéma) – a Sunday Times magazine Best Album of the Year – she even set lyrics to beloved themes from the European classical canon. Her new album Picture in Black and White is her most personal and universal yet, a riveting musical account of the journey launched by her discovery at age 28 that her father was black. It’s another revelatory step by an artist on a decidedly unconventional path.