Jazzy Ladies

[NickNack]

Anybody have any info on these two ladies:

RACHELLE FERRELL and LEATA GALLOWAY

Just wondering since Rachelle's last release was in 2000 and Leata seems to have suffered the curse of the "Best New Artist" Grammy way back in '88.

I miss them. :cry:

[K-Bee]

Funny you should mention these Nicky.
I am a Rachelle Ferrell completist and own everything she ever did (I hope )
True, her latest studio recording is from 2000, but you may be interested in checking out the live set released by Blue Note in 2002 entitled "Live In Montreux 91-97" as well. Truly great jazzy stuff.

Of course Rachelle Ferrell has been a regular guest on at least the five most recent cd's by george duke as well.
According to her official website, she's currently working on a new project: a duet album with her brother Russ Barnes set to be released on their own "Evolution Records" label.
But to be real honest....that info was on the site one year ago too, so I don't really know if anything's happening at all.

About L. Gallaway....I found her "The Naked Truth" cd in a bargain bin a while ago and bought it even though I had no idea who she was.

Winning that grammy apparantly made all the big producers of the day stand in line eager to work with her. Preston Glass And Nick Martinelli were both involved and even Toots Thielemans and Wilton Felder are on there too! I'm surprised she didn't make an impact with all of these contributing!

I'll have to listen to this cd again one of these days!

[Nano]

Don't know either of these gals but would love to talk about jazz singers... I wondered just recently (a couple of years ago) on this field and fell in love with both Billie Holiday and the early Nina Simone. Another one that took my attention was Dinah Washington, with that near-perfect diction and blissful voice.
Nina is something strange... It took some time to get accostumed with that basso voice, but things like her version of "I loves you Porgy" won me over instantly. Absolutely sweet.
And what can I say about la Holiday... maybe it's the bad sound of some old recordings, but for me it seems like she does no effort at all to sing those lullabies. It's like a mother comforting his son, and at the same time she can be twingy, sexy, playful... Truly perfect.
On the nowadays side, I kinda like Diana Krall (specially live and on her new CD), and I'll always miss the jazz standards album Joni Mitchell should have made when her voice was in good shape, but that she sadly never did. :cry:

[NickNack]

K-Bee: Thanks for the update. Guess I better catch up on my George Duke if I want to hear Rachelle. :) I'm not one for 'live' recordings but I might give it a shot.

Glad you liked Leata. I had it on vinyl first then finally got a CD so I could hear it everywhere. I really thought she was going to go somewhere with that release. Didn't happen. My two fave cuts are both produced by Martinelli: "Shades of Blue" and "One of These Nights". Sad there's nothing more out there by this lady.

Nano: All I can say is you have fallen in love with the 'great ladies of jazz'. These are some of the divas in that genre as any pure jazz fan (I don't consider myself one) could tell you. My 'nowadays' lady would be Diane Schuur but I've been neglectful here, too. :oops:

[NickNack]

I just found out hunting around the net that Leata Galloway has an album before "The Naked Truth". It's titled "Leata" and came out in the early 80s on the German Ariola label. Hope I can find this gem somewhere.

[K-Bee]

That's interesting Nicky. These ariola releases are not that hard to find over here (normally).
Well.....another bargain bin search coming up then

[Tk]

There was a group in 1982 called the "Jazzy ladies" who had a track out called "Blowin' your mind" - just wondering if this is the same Jazzy ladies in question here????

[NickNack]

Originally Posted by Tk

There was a group in 1982 called the "Jazzy ladies" who had a track out called "Blowin' your mind" - just wondering if this is the same Jazzy ladies in question here????

Hi Tk,

And WELCOME! To your question: No. I just used that phrase to name the thread. I wasn't referring to any particular group.