''First Instrument'' is the 1990 debut album by American vocalist

Rachelle Ferrell Rachelle Ferrell (born May 21, 1961) is an American vocalist and musician. Although she has had some success in the mainstream R&B, pop, gospel and classical music scenes, she is noted for her talents as a contemporary jazz singer. In contem ...

, first released in Japan on Somethin' Else Records. The album was later released in 1995 in the United States and Europe via

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...

. ''First Instrument'' peaked at No. 3 on the US ''Billboard''

Top Jazz Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart.

Background

''First Instrument'' was produced by Hitoshi Namekata and

Lenny White Leonard White III (born December 19, 1949) is an American jazz fusion drummer who was a member of the band Return to Forever led by Chick Corea in the 1970s. White has been called "one of the founding fathers of jazz fusion". White has won thre ...

. Artists such as

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...

Gil Goldstein Gil Goldstein (born November 6, 1950, in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American jazz pianist and accordionist. He has won 5 Grammy Awards and he was nominated 8 times. Biography He began studying accordion at age 5 after noticing it in The Lawrence ...

Terence Blanchard Terence Oliver Blanchard (born March 13, 1962) is an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He has also written two operas and more than 80 film and television scores. Blanchard has been nominated for two Academy Awards for Original Score for ''B ...

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jazz-fus ...

, and

Pete Levin Pete Levin (born December 20, 1942) is an American jazz keyboardist, composer, and record producer. Career Pete Levin grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts. His first instrument as a teenager was the French horn. He studied at Boston University a ...

appear on the album.

Critical reception

James T. Jones IV of ''

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'' wrote, "This quiet acoustic setting gives this brilliant singer more musical room to expand her impressive vocal chops. Backed by an unintrusive piano trio, she lets fly her vast vocal arsenal, scatting and manipulating a melody as if it were

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. Her freewheeling improvisations recall early

Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and songwriter. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and ...

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

remarked, "Her voice is quite soulful, making her later shift to R&B less of a surprise in hindsight, but Ferrell seems quite unsure of how to use her wide range, and her improvisations are often quite eccentric. Her lack of warmth and subtlety (along with a tendency to scream and screech in unexpected spots without a buildup) makes it difficult to listen to several of the numbers on this standards-oriented set." Langston Wertz of the ''

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'' proclaimed, "This is an album that was previously available only in Japan and was recorded in 1989 and '90. That this jazz record of "old music" could constitute one of the best things in any genre to be released in the past 18 months says that Ferrell, if nothing else, has staying power. She doesn't make music for the moment."

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 1990 albums Rachelle Ferrell albums Blue Note Records albums