Ferrell's rich, textured voice strokes these often-formulaic songs along.Dipping into modern pop, R&B, gospel, and jazz, Ferrell paints some splendid portraits here (even if she does tend to over-sing her lines occasionally). Best is the funky 'Satisfied,' an amalgam of everything Individuality (Can I Be Me?) sets out to be. A breakthrough album from a behind-the-scenes artist deserving more. 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 the Philadelphia area, Ferrell got started singing in the second grade at age six.
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Rachelle Ferrell (ra-SHELL fe-RELL) has arrived on the contemporary jazz scene, but her visibility on the pop/urban contemporary scene has boosted her audience's interest in her jazz recordings. Sketch master plugin free download. She 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.
Rachelle 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, Rachelle 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 1980's and into the early '90's, she'd worked with some of the top names in jazz, including Dizzy 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 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.
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 '90's, Rachelle Ferrell put in festival stopping performances at the Montreaux Jazz Festival.
