Rachelle Ferrell

Performer: Rachelle Ferrell
Artist: Will Downing
Engineer: Erik Zobler; Rachelle Ferrell
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Rachelle Ferrell (vocals, piano, keyboards, horns, strings, organ); Will DOwning (vocals); Michael J. Powell (guitar, percussion); Paul Jackson, Jr., Kevin Eubanks, Mike Campbell, Carlos Rios (guitar); Oscar Brashear (trumpet); George Bohannon (trombone); Barry Eastmond, Vernon Fails, Brian Simpson (keyboards); George Duke (keyboards, strings, percussion, background vocals); Freddie Washington, Al Turner, Larry Kimpel, Anthony Jackson (bass); Ricky Lawson, Buddy Williams, Doug Nally (drums, cymbals); Paulinho Da Costa (congas); Steve Thornton (percussion); David I. Ward II, Paul D. Allen (programming); Jim Gilstrap, Carolyn Perry, Lori Perry, Darlene Perry, Sharon Perry, Lynn Fidmont-Linsey, Josie Jones, Alex Brown (background vocals). Producers: George Duke, Michael J. Powell, Barry J. Eastmond, Rachelle Ferrell. Rachelle Ferrell wore two hats in the 1990s: straight-ahead jazz singer and commercial R&B/pop singer along the lines of Anita Baker, Miki Howard, and Angela Bofill. Produced mostly by George Duke, this self-titled album is an example of her R&B/pop side. With this smooth, classy effort, Manhattan/Capitol was obviously intent on appealing to the more adult-oriented tastes in the urban contemporary market. While artists like Mary J. Blige, Bell Biv DeVoe, Babyface, and Janet Jackson were making R&B relevant to hip-hoppers, Ferrell opted for maximum quiet storm appeal with this album. If you were buying a lot of Baker, Luther Vandross, and Freddie Jackson albums in the early '90s (along with some Grover Washington, Jr. and Joe Sample, perhaps), you were exactly the type of listener Manhattan/Capitol had in mind with sophisticated numbers like "It Only Took a Minute," "'Til You Come Back to Me," and "Sentimental." Most of the songs are appropriate vehicles for the Philadelphian's big, rich voice, but while this collection of mood music isn't bad, it isn't the gem that Ferrell had the ability to deliver. As pleasant and likable as much of the material is, one got the impression that she was capable of a lot more. ~ Alex Henderson

Entertainment Weekly (11/6/92, p.68) - "...Rachelle Ferrell wails lush, ear-boggling low notes, mellifluous middles, and siren-like highs--as well as operatic cadenzas and cascading jazz riffs that would give Charlie Parker a run for his money..." - Rating: A

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