Miss Tess is a young, Boston-based songwriter, whose “Modern Vintage†sound bridges eras and styles. With vocals that can soar or caress, Tess strums and picks her way through an array of styles, from ragtime, to blues, country, to swing. She writes songs with a troubadour’s sensibility, infused with the flavors of the vintage music of these genres. Constantly performing, she engages fans of all types, even those not familiar with these styles of music. A Miss Tess set conjures a cast of dreamers and lovers, down on their luck and charming their ways in and out of trouble. Familiar faces mingle in the crowd, courtesy of folks like Bessie Smith and Tom Waits, perpetual muses to her style.
This past February Miss Tess had a small career breakthrough — performing on the Cayamo music cruise with headliners Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett. This opportunity was presented to Tess after she won the 27th biannual Open Mic Shootout at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, GA.
Since moving to Boston in late 2005, Miss Tess formed her own band, The Bon Ton Parade, a dynamic, solo-swapping combo, comprised of sax & clarinet, upright bass, brushes on drums, and backing harmonies. With the Bon Tons, she began playing Cambridge hotspots Club Passim, The Lizard Lounge, Toad, and The Plough & Stars. In 2006 Tess and her band clinched an indefinite Sunday night residency at a cozy music joint called Toad. In May of 2007, she released her first album with her Boston band, Modern Vintage, a term she coined to describe her emerging style, deeply rooted in traditional music. The album was recorded at Hi-N-Dry, the studio of Boston legend Mark Sandman and produced by Morphine drummer Billy Conway.
2007 also brought When Tomorrow Comes, an album comprised mostly of jazz standards from the 30s and 40s (and two originals) in the vein of Duke Ellington and Fats Waller. For this project, Tess was accompanied by six DC-based jazz musicians including 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 cd release party for this album was held at the historic Blues Alley in Washington D.C. where Tess sang to a sold out Tuesday night crowd.
In her Maryland youth, Tess was lullabied by the sounds of her father’s Big Band rehearsing in a basement below her bedroom. Her mother plays upright bass and large jam parties were a familiar household sound. In her teens, when her parents could coax her to sing, she would croon out a standard like Crazy, or Dream A Little Dream. By her early 20’s, Miss Tess had fallen in love with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn. Her guitar playing took a turn for the better under the tutelage of local jazzer Steve Abshire. Also during this time, Tess was doing a lot of traveling. She would hop in her car with not much else but her guitar and her voice, crashing on couches or roughing it in youth hostels, and embracing the inspiration of travel. 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. In 2005, she laid down her first album of original music. Employing her father on saxophone and clarinet, and her mother on upright bass, she recorded the disc in their own living room and entitled it Home.
Miss Tess continues to tear up Boston with the Bon Ton Parade, whose current lineup includes Alec Spiegelman on sax and clarinet, Paul Dilley on upright bass and Gillian DeLear on percussion. 2008 marks a heavy touring schedule for Miss Tess as she makes her debut in several Midwestern cities and returns to the Big Apple and the Southeast with her band. –Jason Rabin
“Miss Tess sings about subjects that the modern generation can relate to, although there is an elegance in her voice that could only have been born in another era. It captures you like a thread of smoke, seeping into your skin, and staying long after you’ve gone†~Jenica Jones, Bootleg Magazine (March 2008)
"Shot out of a rag-folk canon, Miss Tess and The Bon Ton Parade meld the sweet lowdown of Billie Holiday and the modern-retro bounce of Jolie Holland." ~Boston Metro (Dec 15, 2007)
"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." ~Matt Smith - Club Passim, Boston (Sep 26, 2007)
“As a child, singer/guitarist Miss Tess fell asleep to the sounds of her dad’s big band rehearsing in the basement. Perhaps is was her big-band-infused dreams that gave her the voice of a different era." ~Charan Devereaux - Boston Globe Sidekick
"Miss Tess’ ’Modern Vintage’ is just that: a fresh - and refreshing - take on classic themes from a bygone era." ~Brendan Hogan, WGBH Radio, Cambridge
"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, singer/songwriter
