QUOTES/
Mike Joyce – Washington Post
“Striking, soulful, enchanting — vocalist Tessa Souter’s Obsession is likely to rank high on ‘best of’ lists at year’s end. Though the album brims with performances that reveal Souter’s jazz sensibilities, listeners needn’t have much interest in the genre to fall under her spell.”

Christopher Loudon – JazzTimes
“Souter’s crystalline contralto and impeccable phrasing are mighty arrows in her quiver, but it is her ability to become one with a song, finding its intrinsic core and allowing its sentiments to grow organically, that enables her to score successive bull’s eyes….”

Karl Stark – Philadelphia Inquirer
“The best thing is that Souter sounds different…. Expressive … full of passion … while Love Theme from Spartacus – a brief and daring duet with guitarist Jason Ennis – reminds me that there really is a love song buried in there.”

Ken Dryden – All Music Guide
“There is no room for debate about her handling of jazz material.”

Tyran Grillo – ecmreviews.com
“Souter’s originals are reason enough to become familiar with this album.”

Seth Rogovoy – Berkshire Living Magazine
“A true jazz singer, she employs her voice as a musical instrument and as the member of an ensemble.”

Peter Quinn – Jazzwise (UK)
“… compelling and utterly original… skip-proof.”

Peter Bacon – thejazzbreakfast
“It all feels like an inspired path for a 21st-century jazz singer to take.”

Chris Parker – www.vortexjazz.co.uk
“…centred by the sheer skill and vocal artistry with which she imbues everything she sings … At once unassumingly virtuosic and uncontrivedly emotional, the Souter voice is simply one of the most attractive sounds in contemporary vocal jazz.”

Richard Kamin – Hartford Courant
“… exciting, sensual, and satisfying … really exemplary emotion and execution. One can easily get lost in Souter’s rich alto vocals … And, though one may have heard these songs many times before in their original versions or on remakes, here they seem fresh.”

Jay N. Miller – Patriot Ledger
“Obsession… has so many indelible moments … …fearless song choices … a very intimate sound, where Souter’s clear contralto and its marvelous tone rings through in all its glory.”

Zan Stewart – Newark Star Ledger
“… a beguiling, atmospheric singer with a bell-clear alto voice who finds intriguing ways to instill jazz sensibilities into pop, Brazilian and other material.”

Barry Bassis – Town and Village
“The singer has a rich contralto and uses it to great dramatic and musical effect. She starts with the familiar ‘Eleanor Rigby’ in a completely fresh arrangement that she created … Her rendition ranks up there with the Beatles’ original and the classic one by Ray Charles.”

MORE REVIEWS HERE tessasouter.com/obsession-motema/
BUY ALBUM HERE tessasouter.com/records/obsession/