{"id":2567,"date":"2010-07-28T21:48:39","date_gmt":"2010-07-29T04:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/?p=2567"},"modified":"2010-07-28T21:51:22","modified_gmt":"2010-07-29T04:51:22","slug":"rachelle-ferrell-a-new-voice-among-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/2010\/07\/28\/rachelle-ferrell-a-new-voice-among-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachelle Ferrell, a new voice among us"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"by Marcia Manna | FroggerDogger.com<\/a><\/cite><\/p>\n

Whenever my band performed in my hometown of Chicago<\/strong>, my mother would get a front row seat and watch me sing. She referred to me as \u201cher star,\u201d but there would be criticism, too. \u201cDon\u2019t screw your face up like that when you are going for those high notes,\u201d she would advise. \u201cYou\u2019ll scare the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

The memory makes me feel a little self-righteous when I watch vocalist Rachelle Ferrell<\/a><\/strong>, who will perform one set tonight and two shows tomorrow at Anthology<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

While many vocalists learn to camouflage the physical effort it takes to flavor and empower notes, all in the name of looking pretty and poised, Ferrell<\/strong> is different.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s what you would call a singer\u2019s singer, a sister who twists and contorts her wide, full mouth to scat, wail and work her six-octave range to full effect.<\/p>\n

Ferrell makes her body her instrument and because of her astounding musicality, her stage presence commands respect.
\nCheck out the youtube clip of her performance at comic\/actor Bernie Mac\u2019s (aka Bernard Jeffrey McCullough) <\/strong>funeral, a celebrity-filled event in 2008 that attracted more than 5,000 mourners. Ferrell<\/strong> is in the spirit, pounding a white piano and leading a massive gospel choir in an emotional, call-and-response musical tribute.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Sadly, the success she so deserves has eluded her, though like many black American musicians, she has a fierce following in Europe, due in part to her numerous Montreaux Jazz Festival<\/a><\/strong> performances.<\/p>\n

Born in 1961 and raised near Philadelphia<\/strong>, Ferrell began writing songs, playing piano and performing professionally in her teens. She attended Boston\u2019s Berklee College of Music<\/strong>, co-taught music classes with Dizzy Gillespie for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and sang backup for recording artists such as Patti LaBelle<\/strong>, Vanessa Williams<\/strong> and George Duke<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Ferrell has a reputation for cooking up an original stew of styles by inserting the creativity of jazz improvisation into blues, R&B and pop formats.<\/p>\n

On her 1990 Blue Note<\/strong> release, \u201cFirst Instrument,\u201d she bastes notes with emotion and tampers with tempo in a way that personalizes familiar standards such as Sam Cooke\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> \u201cYou Send Me\u201d or Rodgers and Hart\u2019s<\/a> \u201cMy Funny Valentine.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2000, Ferrell switches gears by introducing the Capitol Records<\/strong> release \u201cIndividuality, (Can I Be Me?),\u201d a funky, bass-poppin\u2019 R&B album co-produced with George Duke<\/strong>. All of the songs are either written or co-written by Ferrell and here again, she infuses danceable groove numbers with a level of vocal technique that makes you wonder, \u2018Who is <\/em>that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic makes one feel alive,\u201d Ferrell explained last year in a mediaprofil interview at the Montreaux Jazz Festival<\/strong>. \u201cThe privilege of being able to be a musician, to be an artist, comes from the privilege of being able to touch another\u2026I don\u2019t take it lightly. The fact that people come in to embrace me and embrace the music \u2013 it compels me to give from a place that I didn\u2019t know I had.\u201d<\/p>\n

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—<\/p>\n

Via FroggerDogger.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013<\/p>\n

WHAT: Rachelle Ferrell<\/strong>
\nWHEN: Thursday, July 28th, 2010<\/strong>
\nTICKETS 7:30pm: $29 – $54 BUY TICKETS<\/a><\/strong>
\nTICKETS 9:30pm: $26 – $44 BUY TICKETS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

MORE INFO: Artist Profile<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Marcia Manna | FroggerDogger.com Whenever my band performed in my hometown of Chicago, my mother would get a front row seat and watch me sing. She referred to me as \u201cher star,\u201d but there would be criticism, too. \u201cDon\u2019t screw your face up like that when you are going for those high notes,\u201d she would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,17],"tags":[721,850],"class_list":["post-2567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news","category-past-shows","tag-frogger-dogger","tag-rachelle-ferrell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2567"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2572,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567\/revisions\/2572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}