Biography
-
Born In
Maryland, United States
Named by the Boston Globe as a "Local on the Verge" for 2008, Miss Tess is a young, Boston-based performing songwriter. Aptly naming her style "Modern Vintage" , her music bridges eras and genres. True to the tradition, her vocals can soar or caress as she strums and picks her way through an array of styles, from ragtime, to blues; country, to swing. Tess writes songs with the folk sensibilities of a troubadour that engage roots-devotees and newcomers alike. A typical set conjures a cast of dreamers and lovers, down on their luck and charming their ways in and out of trouble, with familiar faces mingling in the crowd, courtesy of folks like Bessie Smith and Tom Waits—perpetual muses to her style.
Miss Tess is celebrating being named "Outstanding Folk Artist of the Year" at the December Boston Music Awards. The Folk part was a surprise but the award is much appreciated. Another small career breakthrough came from being booked on the 2008 Cayamo cruise with headliners Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett. This came about after she won the prestigious 27th Biannual Open Mic Shootout at Eddie's Attic, Decatur, GA.
Tess first joined the storied Cambridge music scene in 2005, when she formed The Bon Ton Parade, a dynamic, solo-swapping combo, comprised of sax & clarinet, upright bass, brushes on drums, and backing harmonies. The Bon Tons began playing at rootsy hotspots, Club Passim, The Lizard Lounge, and The Plough & Stars. In 2006 they clinched an indefinite Sunday night residency at Toad, a cozy live-music joint off of Mass Ave in Porter Square. In May of 2007, Tess released her first album with her Boston band, entitled Modern Vintage, referencing the term she coined to describe her emerging style of contemporary music strongly infused with the flavors of early jazz and its relatives. Modern Vintage was recorded at Hi-n-Dry, the studio of Boston legend Mark Sandman, and was produced by Morphine drummer Billy Conway.
2007 also brought When Tomorrow Comes, an album comprised of jazz standards in the vein of Duke Ellington and Fats Waller, alongside two original compositions. Tess was accompanied on this project by a group of six notable DC-based jazz players; Robert Redd on piano, Steve Abshire on guitar, Rusty Mason on sax, John Jensen on trombone, Ralph Gordon on bass, and Steve Larrance on drums. The album's release party was held at the historic Blues Alley in Washington D.C. where Tess sang to a sold out Tuesday night crowd.
Two new album releases are expected this year: Live on the Road, a collection of live performances, and a studio album, Darling oh Darling. The upcoming studio release features an ecclectic blend of original material, showcasing many of the area's finest musicians.
Much of Tess's style stems from her musical upbringing. In her Maryland youth, Miss Tess was lullabied by the sounds of her father's Big Band rehearsing in a basement below her bedroom. Her mother played upright bass, and large jam parties were a familiar household sound. Tess studied classical piano as a child, and in her teens, began banging out her first few chords on an acoustic guitar. Once in a while, her parents would coax her to croon out a standard like Crazy, or Dream A Little Dream of Me. By her early 20's, she had fallen in love with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn and her guitar playing took a turn for the better under the tutelage of local jazzer Steve Abshire.
When Tess felt restless, she would hit the road with little else than her guitar. Crashing on couches or roughing it in youth hostels, she tried out her chops in small venues and drew inspiration from the other traveling musicians she would meet. Out on the road, she began writing her own songs, and back in Baltimore, she put together a band of locals to work her hometown scene. Right before moving to Boston, she laid down her first album of original music, Home, recorded in her parents' living room with their accompaniment on upright bass, sax, and clarinet.
"The next Boston-area musical sensation" -Boston Magazine
"Miss Tess takes old music and makes it sound fresh. She also makes new music with a sense of history and context to it. No matter what label you want to put on it, it's damn good music. Period." -Club Passim
"If Billie Holiday and Chet Atkins had a musical baby, it would be Miss Tess. With a calmness that belies the intensity in her music, Miss Tess will cement a place in your music- loving heart with her first note." -Caroline Aiken
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
