Born in London, of Afro-Trinidadian and English parents, New York Times critics pick Tessa Souter /ˈsuːtər/ grew up surrounded by music. Her mother taught her to sing when she was three, and Tessa took piano lessons from aged eight, before switching to the guitar, learning by ear to accompany herself. “My piano teacher had advised me to focus on singing so, when around that age, my mother told me that my birth father had been a singer, it felt like a connection to this person I had never known,” says Tessa. When she finally met him in her 20s, the first thing he did was sing to her in the street. “The sound of his beautiful tenor vibrated every bone in my body,” she says. “There are many singers who can wow us with vocal prowess, yet there’s something raw and real about hearing Tessa Souter sing. Basically a self-taught musician, she is not afraid to take big risks in her performances with surprising takes on often just as surprisingly un-standard repertoire, from jazz arrangements of ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ Cream’s ‘White Room’ and Nick Drake’s ‘River Man’ to covers of Brazilian compositions by Milton Nascimento and Dori Caymmi, modern jazz tunes by Wayne Shorter and Kenny Barron, originals such as her own mesmerizing ‘Usha’s Wedding’ and superb arrangements of classical stuff by Chopin, Beethoven, Debussy and others. Picture in Black and White explores the tangled roots of her biracial heritage. It’s the sound of an artist doing things her own way.” John Payne, LA Weekly. “