Rachelle Ferrell

Rachelle Ferrell - Somethin' Else - 1990 - Somethin'else

The first album by Pennsylvania's Rachelle Ferrell was a jazz project released only in Japan. This pop-soul followup curbs most of her jazz moves, but you can sense Ferrell's background in the way she slides gracefully through harmonies and in the way she brings a strong adult sensibility to the love songs. Like fellow jazz/R&B crossover artists Anita Baker and Oleta Adams, Ferrell is at her best on the smoldering ballads, where her smoky voice epitomizes sensuality. All the same, her Minnie Riperton-like wailing on the uptempo "It Only Took a Minute" will raise the hairs on the back of your neck. © Geoffrey Himes, Amazon.com

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1.You Send Me - Cooke 5:07
2.You Don't Know What Love Is - DePaul, Raye 5:14
3.Bye Bye Blackbird - Dixon, Henderson 4:25
4.Prayer Dance - Bailey, Green 6:01
5.Inchworm - Loesser 2:20
6.With Every Breath I Take - Coleman 6:24
7.What Is This Thing Called Love? - Porter 1:33
8. My Funny Valentine - Hart, Rodgers 7:14
9.Don't Waste Your Time - Ferrell 5:15
10.Extensions - Ferrell 4:59
11.Autumn Leaves - Kosma, Mercer, Prevert

MUSICIANS

Rachelle Ferrell - Piano, Vocals
Michel Petrucciani - Piano
Gil Goldstein - Synthesizer, Piano
Pete Levin - Synthesizer
Terence Blanchard - Trumpet
Stanley Clarke - Bass
Kenny Davis - Bass
Tyrone Brown - Stick Bass
Lenny White - Drums
Doug Nally - Drums
Wayne Shorter - Sax (Tenor)
Alex Foster - Sax (Soprano)

ABOUT RACHELLE FERRELL

Composer, lyricist, arranger, musician and vocalist Rachelle Ferrell is a recent arrival on the contemporary jazz scene, but her visibility on the pop/urban contemporary scene has boosted her audience's interest in her jazz recordings. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Ferrell got started singing in the second grade at age six. This no doubt contributed to the eventual development of her startling six-and-change octave range. She decided early on, after classical training on violin, that she wanted to try to make her mark musically as an instrumentalist and songwriter. In her mid-teens, her father bought her a piano with the provision that she learn to play to a professional level. Within six months, Ferrell had secured her first professional gig as a pianist/singer. She began performing at 13 as a violinist, and in her mid-teens as a pianist and vocalist. At 18, she enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston to study composition and arranging, where her classmates included Branford Marsalis, Kevin Eubanks, Donald Harrison and Jeff Watts. She graduated in a year and taught music for awhile with Dizzy Gillespie for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Through the 1980s and into the early '90s, she'd worked with some of the top names in jazz, including Gillespie, Quincy Jones, George Benson and George Duke. Ferrell's debut, First Instrument, was released in 1990 in Japan only. Recorded with bassist Tyrone Brown, pianist Eddie Green and drummer Doug Nally, an all-star cast of accompanists also leave their mark on her record. They include trumpeter Terrence Blanchard, pianists Gil Goldstein and Michel Petrucciani, bassists Kenny Davis and Stanley Clarke, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter and keyboardist Pete Levin. Her unique take on now-standards like Sam Cooke's "You Send Me," Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love," and Rodgers & Hart's "My Funny Valentine," captured the hearts and souls of the Japanese jazz-buying public. In 1995, Blue Note/Capitol released her Japanese debut for U.S. audiences, and the response was similarly positive. Her 1992 self-titled U.S. debut, a more urban pop/contemporary album, was released on Capitol Records. Ferrell was signed to a unique two-label contract, recording pop and urban contemporary for Capitol Records and jazz music for Blue Note Records. For four consecutive years in the early '90s, Ferrell put in festival stopping performances at the Montreaux Jazz Festival. Although Ferrell has captured the jazz public's attention as a vocalist, she continues to compose and write songs on piano and violin. Ferrell's work ethic has paid off, and Gillespie's predictions about her becoming a "major force" in the jazz industry came true. Her prolific songwriting abilities and ability to accompany herself on piano seem only to further her natural talent as a vocalist. "Some people sing songs like they wear clothing, they put it on and take it off," she explains in the biographical notes accompanying First Instrument. "But when one performs four sets a night, six nights a week, that experience affords you the opportunity to present the song from the inside out, to express its essence. In this way, a singer expresses the song in the spirit in which it was written. The songwriter translates emotion into words. The singer's job is to translate the words back into emotion." Ferrell has made her mark not as a straightahead jazz singer and pianist, but as a crossover artist who's equally at home with urban contemporary pop, gospel, classical music and jazz. © Richard Skelly, All Music Guide

BIO (Wikipedia)

Rachelle Ferrell (b. 1961, Berwin, Pennsylvania) is an American singer and musician. Although she has had some success in the mainstream R&B, pop, gospel, and classical music scene, she is most noted for her talents as a contemporary jazz singer. Rachelle Ferrell began singing at the age of six, which contributed to the "development of her startling six-and-change octave range." Her range also includes the ability to reach the whistle register, as stated in an editorial review in which she references her whistle note in "It only took a minute" as "Minnie Riperton-like wailing". She received classical training on violin at an early age and by the time she was a teen, she was able to play the piano at a professional level. She enrolled in Berklee College of Music in Boston where she honed her musical abilities in arrangement, singing and songwriting. From 1975-90, Ferrell sang backup for Lou Rawls, Patti LaBelle, Vanessa Williams, and George Duke. Ferrell's debut, First Instrument, was released in 1990 in Japan, five years prior to its U.S. release. Recorded with bassist Tyrone Brown, pianist Eddie Green and drummer Doug Nally, an all-star cast of accompanists also leave their mark on her record. They include trumpeter Terence Blanchard, pianists Gil Goldstein and Michel Petrucciani, bassists Kenny Davis and Stanley Clarke, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter and keyboardist Pete Levin. Her unique take on now-standards like Sam Cooke's "You Send Me," Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love," and Rodgers & Hart's "My Funny Valentine," captured the hearts and souls of the Japanese jazz buying public.