"Sweet" Sue Terry: BIO & VIDEO

"Superwoman of Jazz" -- Hartford Courant

BIO

"Sweet" Sue Terry began her professional playing career at the age of sixteen, playing for church performances and musical theater. She began playing Jazz gigs while attending the Hartt School, a well-known 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.

Sue 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, Sue 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.

Since then, Sweet Sue has played and recorded with a variety of notable Jazz artists including Dr. Billy Taylor, Clark Terry, Charli Persip, Clifford Jordan, Melba Liston, Hilton Ruiz, Howard Johnson, Walter Bishop, Jr., Jaki Byard and Derwyn Holder. She has also performed with Jazz VIPs like 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. 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 currently contains over forty commercially released CDs. She’s the author of several music instruction books, and has received a number of grants and awards for her songwriting. Catch her regular column in the quarterly Jazz Improv Magazine.

Sue’s other passion is for the martial arts---she’s a longtime practitioner of Taiji Quan and Qi Gong.

Her website is www.sueterry.net, where you will find streaming audio, a blog, a photo gallery, and more. When you visit, be sure to drop a line in the “Comments” section. We’d love to hear from you!

--Sandy Payson
Qi Note Records

Sue Terry is a Yamaha artist. She uses Jody Jazz mouthpieces, Consoli ligatures, Fibracell reeds, NeoTech straps, and SaxRax horn stands.

"Sue Terry on alto 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