Album Notes

A debut recording is an exciting opportunity for music lovers-the chance to discover a talent for the first time. Teraesa Vinson's first recording effort, Opportunity Please Knock, offers a glimpse of a promising future. The collection's combination of well-loved choices from the Great American Songbook, along with a dash of lesser-known tunes and beautiful rendition of a pop standard, will give new audiences a treat.

Recorded April 4, 5, and May 24, 2004 at Eastside Sound in New York City, this debut album captures the St. Louis native's lush, vintage voice in tandem with exceptional bandmates. Ron Blake (saxophone), Tom Dempsey (guitar), Carlton Holmes (piano), Dion Parson (drums), and Nicki Parrott (bass), all first class talents and standards on the New York jazz scene, offer a fertile and supportive environment for Vinson's first foray into the recording experience.

Opportunity Please Knock introduces Vinson's knack for song selection, featuring tunes that showcase her velvet voice and arrangements that combine her respect of jazz tradition with the desire to try something new. An example is her version of "The Way You Look Tonight"-classically done as a simple guitar duet, while also injecting newness by treating it as a waltz. A certain standout is her moving rendition of "I Can't Make You Love Me," a pop standard made famous by Bonnie Raitt in the 1990's. The title track-Oscar Brown Jr.'s commentary on the civil rights struggle-is both true to the original and injected with Vinson's own personal touch.

Compared at times to Lorez Alexandria or an early Helen Humes, Vinson seemed unsure of who she most closely resembles. "People say I have a 'vintage-sounding' voice, but I don't think I sound like anyone in particular. I think that as a musician you look for guidance and inspiration from great musicians, but along the way you find your own voice. I'm excited that through this recording many people will be able to hear me for the first time."

*For New Yorkers: Teraesa Vinson is currently playing on Saturday nights with the Quincy Davis Trio at Langans in Times Square (150 W47th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues).