"Sweet" Sue Terry plays a Yamaha silver plated Custom 855 alto saxophone and a Yamaha YSS 61 soprano saxophone, customized by Tomoji Hirakata. She uses Jody Jazz saxophone mouthpieces, Fibracell reeds, Consoli ligatures, NeoTech straps, and SaxRax horn stands.
"She plays like Charlie Parker reincarnated! She smokes!" is what Jazz Central Station had to say about Sue Terry--a saxophonist, composer and vocalist who's been hailed as a "Superwoman of Jazz" (Hartford Courant), a "forward voice in modern music" (Saxophone Journal) and "Simply extraordinary!" (Die Wahrheit, Berlin, Germany).
Sweet Sue was a protégée of saxophone legend Jackie McLean at the Hartt School in Hartford, Connecticut. He encouraged her to move to New York City, where she was later mentored by Clifford Jordan, Junior Cook and Barry Harris, who collectively gave her the nickname 'Sweet' Sue.
Upon her arrival in New York, Sue became a featured soloist with bands led by Jazz masters Charli Persip, Clifford Jordan, Walter Bishop, Jr. and Jaki Byard. She went on to work with greats such as Dr. Billy Taylor, Clark Terry, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, George Duke, Barry Harris, Hilton Ruiz, Irene Reid, Juan Carlos Formell, Dr. John, Jazzberry Jam, Teri Thornton, Mike Longo, Howard Johnson and Dianne Reeves. She has also performed with Jazz VIPs like Art Blakey, Carmen McRae, Jon Faddis, Lew Tabackin, Wynton Marsalis, Lew Soloff and Ray Barretto.
Sweet Sue has appeared as Jazz soloist with the National Symphony at The Kennedy Center, the Brooklyn Philharmonic at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall.
She has performed worldwide at venues such as The Montreux Jazz Festival; Grande Parade du Jazz in Nice, France; Pori Jazz Festival; Northsea Jazz Festival; the Blue Note in Tokyo, Japan; Quasimodo in Berlin, Germany; Marian's Jazzclub in Bern, Switzerland; and Spice of Life in London, UK. In the States she has been a frequent performer at venues such as The Kennedy Center in Wash. D.C. and Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York.
Her discography of more than forty recordings includes her as leader/composer on "Gilly's Caper", "Pink Slimy Worm" and "BANDLEADER 101", and as co-leader/composer on "The Troubadours" (with John Di Martino), and "The Blue.Seum Project" (with virtuoso woodwind improviser Tim Price.) Some artists whose recordings have featured her playing and writing include Charli Persip, Clifford Jordan, Joe McMahon, Derwyn Holder, Bobby Sanabria, Mini All Stars, Jaki Byard, Ricardo Franck (Ti Plume), Fred Ho, and DIVA.
Sweet Sue has conducted master classes and lectures throughout the U.S. and is the author of Practice Like The Pros, and several other instructional books with CDs, published by Music Sales Corporation. She is also a longtime practitioner of the martial art of Taiji Quan.
VISIT WWW.SUETERRY.NET FOR PHOTOS, DOWNLOADABLE MUSIC (RELEASED & UNRELEASED), AND A PULL-NO-PUNCHES BLOG.
Sue Terry is a Yamaha Artist.
