Anguilla News  - Local & Regional by AnguillaLNT a SMG Product : Anguilla Tranquility Jazz Festival 2009 - Rachelle Ferrell performing Nov 12, 2009

Anguilla Tranquility Jazz Festival 2009 - Rachelle Ferrell performing Nov 12,
2009
================================================================================
admin on 10/30/2009 15:44:00 Etc/GMT+1


Rachelle Ferrell who will be performing on the first night of the Anguilla
Tranquility Jazz Festival 2009, Thursday November 12, 2009 at CuisinArt Resort &
Spa, is profiled in this article.
She 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 almost five-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.