Obsession

Personnel: Tessa Souter (vocals); Jason Ennis (guitar); Todd Reynolds (violin); Victor Prieto (accordion); Gary Wang (bass instrument); Conor Meehan (drum); Ansel Matthews (background vocals).Audio Mixer: Dae Bennett.Liner Note Author: Ted Panken.Recording information: Bennett Studios, Englewood, NJ.Author: Tessa Souter.Photographers: Richard Conde; Billy Drummond.Arranger: Tessa Souter.Jazz vocalist Tessa Souter has a rich contralto voice and an adventurous spirit, while she is confident enough of her abilities to include three rock songs among the first four tracks to OBSSESSION. Her hypnotic setting of the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" has little jazz content, but the novelty of her arrangement, utilizing violin, guitar and accordion, makes it work. Other jazz vocalists such as fellow Brit Claire Martin have covered Nick Drake's "Riverman," but Souter digs deeper into its lyrics in a sophisticated arrangement. Cream's "White Room" was a hit in the late 1960s and guitarist Jason Ennis's B