Vocalist and pianist Rachelle Ferrell is a relatively recent arrival to the contemporary jazz landscape, but her visibility on the urban contemporary pop scene has boosted her audience’s interest in her jazz recordings. She’s a crossover artist who’s equally at home with urban contemporary pop, gospel, classical music, and jazz, and very few vocal artists in the industry have Ferrell’s potent combination of range (more than six octaves), phrasing, and musicianship combined with a prolific songwriting ability.

The Philadelphia native began singing at the age of six, received classical training in violin at an early age, and by the time she was a teen, Rachelle was able to play the piano at a professional level. She honed her musical abilities in arrangement, singing, and songwriting at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where her classmates included Branford Marsalis, Kevin Eubanks, Donald Harrison, and Jeff Watts. Since the 1980s, Rachelle has worked with some of the top names in jazz like Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, George Benson, and George Duke, and it was Dizzy who correctly predicted that she would become a ‘major force’ in the jazz industry.