SHADOWS AND SILENCE: THE ERIK SATIE PROJECT | RELEASE DATE: june 27

PRESS: DL MEDIA, INC. 
Roberta Lawrence 917-929-4910     EMAIL roberta@dlmediamusic.com

On Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project, her sixth album as a leader. Tessa Souter continues to explore her penchant for collaborating with a broad range of renowned composers. Celebrated for her “poetic but ungushing lyrics,” (Clive Davis, The Sunday Times), Souter received shared writing credit from Wayne Shorter for her lyrics to his composition Ana Maria, later recorded by Kurt Elling on his GRAMMY-nominated Wildflowers: Volume 1. Now, with Shadows and Silence, she turns her attention to Satie, appending deeply personal lyrics to his most iconic melodies. Two decades in the making –  Souter first conceived of writing lyrics to Erik Satie when she heard a wordless vocal version of Gnossienne No. 1 by French singer Anne Ducros – the album arrives just in time for global celebrations marking the 2025 centenary of Satie’s death, and ahead of the 160th anniversary of his birth in 2026.

Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project features GRAMMY-winning pianist Luis Perdomo (who also contributes several arrangements), GRAMMY-nominated bassist Yasushi Nakamura, and Souter’s husband, legendary drummer Billy Drummond. They are joined at carefully chosen moments by trumpeter Nadje Noordhuis and soprano saxophonist Steve Wilson.

“It was really interesting for me,”  says pianist and arranger Perdomo. “One of my teachers, the late Sir Roland Hanna, had played some of this music with his trio in a jazz context, but here we’re taking it to a different level. And then you bring all the sophistication of Tessa and her lyrics. They give you a different point of view as to where the music should be.”

Yasushi Nakamura has been playing with Tessa for over ten years. “Tessa is definitely one of the great singers of New York with a unique and beautiful voice. And I feel very special, because one of the songs, Gymnopedie Number 1 (‘Rayga’s Song’) she wrote the lyrics for my son. I can’t wait for people to hear it,” he says.

“I thought it was a great idea of hers to do Satie’s music. I’ve heard the odd Satie piece in a jazz context, but this is the first time I’ve heard a whole album, and with lyrics. It suits her vibe. Tessa’s singing is elegant and very beautiful and it’s for real – the way she is. It makes you feel something and that’s what you want,” says Drummond.

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