"Superwoman of Jazz" -- Hartford Courant
•••••••••••• Live at the 2006 COTA Jazz Festival, from WVIA broadcast:
A BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON THE PLANET: "This Is Montesueños" Sit back and enjoy this 8 minute, very calming and centering video.
Su's stunning slideshow, with original music, is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Brian O'Leary, 1940-2011: "This Is Montesueños", Vilcabamba, Ecuador. The music was recorded live in 2009 at a small gathering of friends there. Download the soundtrack free.
Transcribing Solos: Why Do It?
PLAYLIST! 1. Make Your Own Scales 2. Gil Barretto Playing Stan Getz's Horn 3. Education of Trevar 4. Sweet Sue & Dangerous Sax improvised quartet 5. 2 AM Jam @ Phil Shimmel's 6. Osama is Dead 7. This is Montesueños 8. Why Your Music Is Important 9. Reality Sax
Lessons" Here I explain how to use the keyboard in your practice sessions:
The Blue.Seum Project--A collaboration with virtuoso reedman Tim Price
Live clip from the St. Petersburg Jazz Festival, 2009 (with Richard Drexler-p, Mark Neuenschwander-b, Tracy Alexander-d)
BIO
Su Terry began her music studies on the accordion at age five. The music school in Ohio, where her family was living at the time, at first refused to accept her as a pupil, saying she was too young. But they hadn't met Su's mother.
She first heard Jazz music as a child growing up in Connecticut, where her father had an extensive record collection and she listened to WRVR FM non-stop. As a teenager studying with legendary pianist and educator John Mehegan, Su mentioned she would like to write a big band arrangement for her high school Jazz Ensemble. Mehegan bet her an ice cream cone that she couldn’t do it. She won.
By age sixteen she was playing professionally, mainly for church performances and musical theater. She began playing Jazz gigs while attending the Hartt School music conservatory in Hartford. Though she was accepted as a classical clarinetist, her secret agenda was to study with the late Jazz legend Jackie McLean, which she did for five years. The Hartt School elected her Alumna of the Year in 2001.
Su has composed for, and played and recorded with, a variety of notable Jazz artists including Dr. Billy Taylor, Clark Terry, Clarice Assad, Charli Persip, Peggy Stern, Clifford Jordan, Melba Liston, Hilton Ruiz, Howard Johnson, Tim Price, Walter Bishop, Jr. , Luiz Simas and Jaki Byard.
She has also performed with other Jazz VIPs such as Art Blakey, Carmen McRae, Jon Faddis, Lew Tabackin, Wynton Marsalis, Lew Soloff and Ray Barretto. She’s been a Jazz soloist with the National Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the New York Pops, and has performed worldwide at venues such as The Montreux Jazz Festival, Nice Jazz Festival, 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. She has toured internationally for the U.S. State Department. In the States she's 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 currently contains over seventy commercially released CDs. She’s the author of several music instruction books, and has received a number of grants and awards for her songwriting. She is the lead columnist for The Note, author of three non-fiction books, and a short novel. Her blog can be found at: https://medium.com/@suterry.
Su’s other passion is for the martial arts---she’s a longtime practitioner of Taijiquan and Qi Gong. She is a 9-time championship tournament gold medalist in taijiquan.
Su has given many nicknames over the years. Some of them are: "Sweet Sue", "Blue Berry", "Tiger", "Mad Dog", "Truth-Teller", and "Badass." The others we can't mention due to FCC regulations.
Su Terry is a Yamaha artist. She uses Jody Jazz saxophone mouthpieces and ligatures, Legere reeds, and SaxRax horn stands.
"Su Terry on saxophone: one should almost say that this young lady is born for her instrument. That relaxed, exalted playing! That rhythmic feeling! That improvisational skill! Simply extraordinary!" --Die Wahrheit Berlin, Germany
"She has a formidable musical intelligence. . . " --Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD
"She plays like Charlie Parker reincarnated! She smokes!" --Jazz Central Station