With the caressing breeze and warm sunset accompanying her, Gracie Terzian couldn’t have asked for a more intimate setting as she sang at Bar Hugo Rooftop with the New Dominion Trio. Terzian is a young jazz singer whose self-written debut EP, Saint and Poets, reached #3 on the iTunes Jazz albums chart, having debuted this May as a self-produced effort.

Reminiscent of Julie London in vocal quality and her sweet, sassy attitude, Terzian sings with confident and heartbroken conviction of her romances, channeling her private contemplation into a gently swung and flirtatious string of original songs.

Her songs carry sentiments of London’s “Sophisticated Lady” and “A Nightingale Can Sing The Blues,” presenting Terzian as the heartbroken but strong and independent lover as in “Iris” and “Sleepwalker.” Most impressive are Terzian’s original songs: she writes with modern originality, where her songs express complicated tales of heartbreak, but without cynicism, retaining the romantic love which is idealized in jazz. Notably, “Love Rest” and “Exit Strategy” standout from the album, along with “Sleepwalker,” with “Exit Strategy” reminding me of Esperanza Spalding’s carefree and fluttering singing style.

Gracie Terzian is a performer to be seen live; her songs are even better experienced in live performance than on CD as she adds elements of cheek and playfulness amidst her heavier love songs of deceit and pretense. Her voice is smooth, reassuring and pronounced, with well controlled use of vibrato.

I strongly urge you to listen to her EP and see her perform at Bar Hugo Rooftop most Mondays from 6-8pm, for an evening of unwinding with a view, cocktails, the drummer’s distinctive musical intuition and Terzian’s sweet vocals.

– Jason Kwan