Ella, Sarah and Peggy take on a new life in the voice of Rachel Price.
By: Susan Van Dongen
At first glance it seems that jazz vocalist Rachael Price has burst onto the scene out of nowhere.
But like the multitude of unusually young and gifted performers that has blossomed today (guitarist Julian Lage, pianists Eldar and Taylor Eigsti, for example), 21-year-old Ms. Price has been singing pretty much since her toddler days, as well as working professionally for years.
Raised in Nashville, Tenn., she shrugs off her precocious talent, noting that in Music City, U.S.A., everyone is a singer, songwriter, musician, producer, arranger maybe all of the above. When Mom and Dad are laying down their original tracks in the basement studio it’s not unusual for the kids to say, "Hey, I can do that."
"I started singing jazz at a very early age, as young as 4 or 5," says Ms. Price from Boston, where she is attending the New England Conservatory of Music. "In Nashville, you’re surrounded by music. It’s the norm to be a working musician."
Folks in less musical parts of the country might think it’s strange, but apparently in Nashville it’s not unusual for a 4-year-old to decide on her life’s goal to be a jazz singer.
It is somewhat peculiar that in the land of the Grand Ole Opry, though, that a little girl would fixate on jazz lionesses like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.
"From about age 4 to 7, Ella was it I listened to record after record and learned every one of her songs," Ms. Price says. "I also like big band singers like June Christie, Jo Stafford and Peggy Lee. My friends thought my taste in music was cool because it was different and that’s why I liked jazz too. In Nashville, country and pop are big, but I liked jazz because it was mine.
"I appreciate all kinds of music, but jazz hit an inner chord with me," she adds. "I heard Ella Fitzgerald’s rendition of ‘The Lady is a Tramp.’ I didn’t understand the lyrics, but I liked the feeling it gave me."
Ms. Price and her quartet will be at the Mount-Burke Theater at the Peddie School in Hightstown April 13 to close the CAPPS 2007 Jazz Fridays Series. There will be a free, pre-concert chat with the artist.
With an Australian mother and an American father, Ms. Price was born in the land Down Under but moved back to the U.S. where her dad a producer, arranger, composer and engineer had to choose between Los Angeles, New York and Nashville to lay down roots and resume his career.
"I was the last of four children, so after they had me, they decided to move to the U.S.," Ms. Price says. "They felt that, among the three cities, Nashville was the best place to raise a family."
Vocalizing came naturally for young Rachael, and it wasn’t long before she was performing solo shows for the public.
"I was singing in front of audiences probably around age 11," she says.
Things really started to take off for Ms. Price a few years later. Just out of high school, in 2003 she was selected by the Grammy Foundation as a vocalist with the High School Grammy Jazz Choir and she was a semi-finalist at the Montreux International Jazz Vocal Competition. With the summer of 2005 came Ms. Price’s professional debut opening for saxophonist Joshua Redman at Yale’s Jazz on the Green. She also performed at the 2005 Newport Jazz Festival, receiving a standing ovation.
Working under the tutelage of the esteemed Dominique Eade, Ms. Price has been a Jazz Studies major at the New England Conservatory of Music, expecting to graduate in about a month.
"Since I got into the conservatory there have been so many great gigs and opportunities," she says. "I’ve gained a great deal of experience."
Ms. Price has one self-released CD, Dedicated to You, to her name. With nods to Doris Day and Anita O’Day, it’s a kind of love letter to "girl singers" from days gone by.
She’s recently been putting the final touches on a new release for a yet-unnamed major label. A mixture of jazz, pop and R&B, the CD will be out in late summer, Ms. Price hopes.
"We started the project in January and I’m really excited about it," she says. "It’s covers of things I grew up with pop songs by James Taylor and the Jackson 5, a little R&B, the classic ‘I Only Have Eyes For You.’ As much as I love jazz, I also listened to the radio and loved so many different kinds of music.
"We have (multi Grammy-winning) K.C. Porter producing the CD, which is something different for him because he’s better known in the world of Latin music," Ms. Price continues. "But he was interested in trying something new. It’s a bigger production than my previous album, with lots of horns and string arrangements. I’m really excited. It’s like my dream album."
The Rachael Price Quartet will perform at the Mount-Burke Theater at the Peddie School, South Main Street, Hightstown, April 13, 8 p.m. Pre-concert chat 7 p.m. Tickets cost $15. For information, call (609) 490-7550. On the Web: www.peddie.org/capps. Rachael Price on the Web: www.rachaelpricesings.com