Anglo-Trinidadian vocalist, Tessa Souter, described by the New York Times as “an astute and expressive singer,” has always chosen songs for their deeply personal emotional connection – from her “intense delivery” (Wall Street Journal) ​of evergreen ‘Eleanor Rigby’ (Obsession, Motema, 2009) to her own ​”exhilaratingly mature lyrics” (Chicago Examiner) set to familiar classical melodies on Beyond the Blue (Motema), which was #6 on the UK’s Sunday Times Magazine Ten Best Jazz CDs of 2013.

Since her Flamenco-tinged debut, Listen Love (2004), up to and including her fourth album, Beyond the Blue (Venus-Motema, 2012), which features her own lyrics to jazz arrangements of classical gems, and was picked by the London Times as one of the Top Ten Jazz CDs of 2013, Downbeat Critics Poll "Rising Star", Tessa Souter has gained a reputation as "...one of the most innovative vocal talents on the scene today ... Five easy stars." (Brent Black, Critical Jazz)

Since her professional debut in 1999, she has recorded and/or performed with many of the jazz world's elite, including Steve Kuhn, Lew Soloff, David Finck, Billy Drummond, Francois Moutin, Joe Locke, Romero Lubamba, Joel Frahm, John Hart, Kenny Werner, Gary Versace, Freddie Bryant, Essiet Essiet, Marvin Sewell, Charnett Moffett (she sings on his Spirit of Sound album), Gwilym Simcock, Alec Dankworth, Lynne Arriale, and more.

She has performed all over the world, including her Russian debut at the Moscow International Performing Arts Center and four sold out tours of the Philharmonic halls of Russia and Siberia. In the US she has played the Jazz Standard, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Kennedy Center Millenium Stage, Blues Alley and on multiple occasions has sold out the legendary Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay, the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival (2014 will be her fourth appearance), Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (JALC), the Blue Note, and Joe's Pub in New York, and Ronnie Scotts, Pizza on the Park and Pizza Express, Dean Street in London, as well as having sold out debuts at Jazz Alley, Seattle, Blue Brass Club, Palermo, Sicily, and National Palace of Culture of Trade Unions, Minsk, Belarus.