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A Minneapolis native, Tresa
Sauer grew up in a musically-rich family.
Her father played bass professionally and nearly everybody sang. With four-part
harmony commonly heard at family gatherings, it
was no surprise to find four-year old Tresa playing
piano by ear.
By five, her musical education began at MacPhail
Center for the Arts in Minneapolis,
studying piano first and later, the cello. A
brief attempt with guitar was short lived from having
grown weary at her teacher's insistence that she
sing
during lesson time. Perhaps
he knew what she hadn't yet discovered - that
her voice would become her focus.
In
the early
‘80’s,
she fronted a disco band comprised of depressed
jazz musicians that
split up on a
road trip during a particularly nasty Minnesota wind-chill blitz.
Disenchanted with the ‘music biz,’
she gave up singing until 1991, after being
inspired by an Austin, Texas jazz singer named
Kellye Gray. Believing musical talent, like physical
beauty, is a gift randomly bestowed and not
to be misused or wasted, she reconsidered her previous departure and
studied chord structure and music composition.
With an ability to both play and hear
the richly-complex chords that are the hallmark of jazz, she discovered
much wider range of musical possibilities for her voice. Having
amassed a huge jazz collection and listening to the
'foundational three' - Sarah, Ella, and Billie - as
well as 'present-day' singers such as Dianne
Reeves, Etta Jones, Betty Carter, Dee Dee
Bridgewater, Cassandra Wilson, and Patricia Barber –
Tresa's own style evolved. Surprisingly, her only
vocal training consists of four, one-hour sessions with
late vocalist/educator Roberta Davis who, not known for
suffering fools or fluff, advised in her inimitable
style "This is not a beauty contest, my
dear. We sing."
And sing she does. Unquestionably unique and warm,
Tresa Sauer possesses a kind of cool that can
tease, caress, and question. At times poignant and
tender, at times wry and whimsical, her depth is
clear. Favoring nuance and tasteful restraint over
showy flash, she is immediately intimate and
fully present - a minimalist in full force,
grounded by the power of vulnerability.
Listen for yourself.
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