Amoré, eros, love: flame-haired jazz temptress Rachel Pearl croons unapologetically about matters of the heart on her flawless solo debut, Love Extravagantly. Channeling the likes of Billie Holiday and Madeleine Peyroux, Pearl’s dripping honey soprano casts a sweet vintage-tinged spell with lush and intimate melodies. Vocally expressing the swirling emotions of love was always the plan: “I’m a happy, sexy person and I wanted this album to reflect that. I’ve always thought the idea of loving someone richly, extravagantly was beautiful.”
Growing up a twin and in the household of a blues singing mother, the Bowling Green, KY native remembers she and her sister singing along to Tina Turner, hairbrush in hand: “I was drawn to the magnetic shine of the stage at an early age and even now, thinking about doing anything else makes me feel ill.” Honing her chops and building a vocal foundation first at Western Kentucky University then MTSU, Pearl often felt restricted by the ridigity of the classical world. “It was hard for me to find my voice in all that was surrounding me. I was just trying to keep up and sound like everybody else.” It was at the age of 21 that Ella Fitzgerald’s “You’re The Top” floated into her ear and stopped her on a dime. “I remember hearing that voice and that song and feeling like ah, that’s it.”
As the co-founder and president of the first collegiate chapter of NSAI at Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN), it should come as no surprise that Rachel Pearl includes seven self-penned tracks (defying the jazz standard of seven covers/three originals) on “Love Extravangantly”. Highlights include the smoking “Don’t Play with Fire” and the tingling “Pins & Needles”. The standout, however, is the bubbly, flirtatious duet with Nashville folk rocker and co-writer Jeremy Lister, “Baby Blue”.
Rachel Pearl was winner of the 2006 American Idol Underground Jazz Competition. She currently resides in Nashville, TN.

Written by Stephanie Fields