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Biography
Rachel Caswell is an award-winning jazz vocalist with a unique style combining extraordinary scatting ability and sensitive song interpretation. According to internationally-renowned jazz pedagogue David Baker, "Rachel Caswell is that rara avis who is truly a jazz vocalist. Her intonation is impeccable, her diction precise, her jazz sensibilities above reproach, and she swings like mad!" All these qualities can be heard on her debut CD Some Other Time with pianist Lynne Arriale, drummer Steve Davis, bassist Kelly Sill and violinist Sara Caswell.
Rachel has performed with The Glenn Miller Orchestra, John Blake, Jr., Ingrid Jensen, the Billy Taylor Trio and Curtis Fuller and was selected as one of two vocalists for the 1997 Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Colony at Jazz Aspen/Snowmass. In addition to her solo work, she co-leads the Caswell Sisters Quintet with her sister, jazz violinist Sara Caswell, and frequently performs in duo with bassist Jeremy Allen. The Rachel Caswell-Jeremy Allen Duo was selected to perform at the 2006 International Association for Jazz Education’s Annual Conference in New York.
A native of Bloomington, IN, Rachel’s compelling improvisation skills developed out of her many years of jazz cello study under IU Distinguished Professor David Baker. A student of Baker’s from age 13, Caswell graduated with High Distinction in 1995 with degrees in classical cello and jazz studies from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music where she was on full scholarship as a Wells Scholar. In 1998 she completed her Master of Music degree in Jazz Voice with Academic Honors and Distinction in Performance at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music where she studied with Dominique Eade, Carol Sloane, Danilo Perez, George Garzone and John McNeil.
Winner of the 1997 Hilton Head Jazz Society Scholarship, Rachel also placed in the top ten out of 150 contestants in the 2005 jazzconnect.com annual vocal competition, appearing in one judge's top five. She has had coachings with Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Barry Harris and Clark Terry and appears on Sara Caswell’s recordings First Song (DoubleTime) and But Beautiful (Arbors). She was filmed as the featured vocalist in John McNeil’s Jazz Series on Video, Vol. 3 Vocal Jazz: Learning to Scat with Mr. McNeil as trumpeter/host and Rufus Reid on bass.
Rachel has appeared at the Emory Jazz Fest in Atlanta, GA, the Jazz Cabaret Series at the Kentucky Center for the Arts in Louisville, KY, the Hoagy Carmichael Festival in Bloomington, IN, West Virginia State College in Charleston, WV, the Jazz Artist Series at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, IN, Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, the Midwest Clinic (International Band and Orchestra Conference) in Chicago, IL, with the Jazz Arts Group of Fargo-Moorhead in Fargo, ND and at the Cornelia Street Café in New York, NY.
Rachel's unique gifts as a musician and improvisor have lead jazz trumpeter Ingrid Jensen to say, "Very rarely does such a complete musician come along in the form of a singer! Rachel and her voice are capable of expression and artistry that parallel those of some of the great horn players in improvised jazz music – not to mention all of the wonderful singers out there. She is a force to be reckoned with."
Reviews
Cadence Magazine April 2004 - Alan Bargebuhr
Review of "Some Other Time"
Rachel Caswell is in command of a heat seeking missile of a soprano voice. She takes aim and invariably hits her mark. She has wisely inserted some standard touchstones into her recital, from which, as she demonstrates immediately with “Alone Together,” she can make her improvisational seek and destroy forays. It’s a track with which she establishes her rhythmic scat credentials, and her willingness to get in the sandbox and dig with the trio. “For Jan” turns out to be a rather labored Winstone lyric, seemingly about a specific person of that singer/lyricist’s acquaintance, but Caswell chooses not to dwell on it at length, offering some well executed vocalese variations which enhance the tune’s reflective mood. The singer’s younger sister, Sara, breaks out her violin for the next two tracks, the first an achingly honest reading of Lenny Bernstein’s “Some Other Time,” on which the women demonstrate sisterly similarity of disposition. Lynne Arriale solos effectively. “Marsh Blues” is a vocalese blues in which the sisters open in unison and go on to build separate solo statements, spurred by Steve Davis’ four wheel drive. “I Remember You” is an inspired performance of that Johnny Mercer lyric, with Rachel supported only by Kelly Sill’s resourceful bass lines. “The Mingus That I Knew” is a George Garzone tune, on which the Caswell sibling is offered additional bow time, while her older sister scats through. Nice groove though it be, “Mingus” resides in the title only. “I Walk With Music,” a gentle Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer tune when Barbara Lea, Marlene Ver Planck or Daryl Ryce have at it, herewith gets the Coltrane “Favorite Things” treatment and is modally modified into a rather raucous rhubarb until someone in the booth mercifully fades it, to write finis. The track contains the CD’s only four moments from which I derive no pleasure. The very next track happily offers redemption with Rachel’s powerful reading of Marilyn Simpson’s haunting “Moonlight to You” lyric (music by singer, Nancy King), in a performance which, although it may be heard as a test of the liner claim that Caswell’s intonation is “impeccable,” is, nonetheless, intensely emotive. Scat rules on Oscar Pettiford’s “Tricotism,” with only bass and drum support, and the program ends with a rousing, if somewhat routine, version of “Nothing Like You.” The trio’s strong support throughout, and Rachel Caswell’s sense of swing and improvisatory play mark this as a prime vocal Jazz debut.
Hoosier Times August 8, 2003 - Audibles by David Coonce
Rachel Caswell's debut disc
Speaking of jazz, local jazz vocalist Rachel Caswell has just released her debut CD, Some Other Time. The album is made up of a blend of standards, tunes by contemporary composers and lesser-known gems, and includes Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer's "I Walk with Music," Leonard Bernstein's "Some Other Time," Mercer's "I Remember You" and Oscar Pettiford's "Tricotism."
For this debut, Caswell surrounded herself with an exceptional supporting cast – pianist Lynne Arriale, bassist Kelly Sill and drummer Steve Davis. Sara Caswell, Rachel's sister plays violin on three cuts.
Rachel Caswell is a pure swinging jazz singer, with a keen ear for improvisation and a remarkable ability to interweave her voice seamlessly with the other instruments The group's arrangements are tight, crisp and genuinely playful, giving the songs warmth and clarity, never obfuscating the compositions with heavy-handed soloing or unnecessary frills.
The best cuts allow Caswell's vocals plenty of room to breathe, and she fills the spaces well with her impeccable phrasing. The "duet" between Caswell and bassist Sill on "I Remember You" is a highlight, each instrument chasing the other up and down the scale, while Sara Caswell's sweetly melodic violin adds a touch of poignancy to the title track.
Quotes
"There are singers who show evidence of jazz influences and there are singers who choose to sing material from the jazz canon, but Rachel Caswell is that rara avis who is truly a jazz vocalist. Her intonation is impeccable, her diction precise, her jazz sensibilities above reproach, and she swings like mad!…Few improvisers – vocal or instrumental – have better ears than she possesses and she has an exceptional instrument that is immediately identifiable among a sea of other vocalists."
David Baker
Chair of the Indiana University School of Music Jazz Studies Department
"Rachel Caswell is in command of a heat-seeking missile of a soprano voice. She takes aim and invariably hits her mark….[Her] sense of swing and improvisatory play mark this as a prime vocal Jazz debut."
Alan Bargebuhr
Reviewer, Cadence Magazine
"Very rarely does such a complete musician come along in the form of a singer! Rachel and her voice are capable of expression and artistry that parallel those of some of the great horn players in improvised jazz music – not to mention all of the wonderful singers out there. She is a force to be reckoned with and I predict the music world will be given many rich hours of listening enjoyment from both this CD and future projects that Rachel presents."
Ingrid Jensen
Jazz Trumpeter & Recording Artist
"Rachel Caswell is a pure swinging jazz singer, with a keen ear for improvisation and a remarkable ability to interweave her voice seamlessly with the other instruments. The group's arrangements are tight, crisp and genuinely playful, giving the songs warmth and clarity, never obfuscating the compositions with heavy-handed soloing or unnecessary frills."
David Coonce
Reviewer, Bloomington Herald Times
"It was a pleasure for me to be a part of Rachel's CD project. Rachel has a real talent for shaping a melody and a thorough knowledge of chord changes and how to use them in scat singing. This knowledge creates beautiful lines in her soloing. What is evident to me is that Rachel's deep love of music is present in every note she sings which creates a very personal musical expression. I hope Some Other Time brings Rachel the recognition she deserves."
Lynne Arriale
Jazz Pianist & Recording Artist
"Rachel Caswell is a first-rate improviser and an engaging interpreter capable of tackling the most challenging instrumental lines and lyrical repertoire."
Dominique Eade
Jazz Vocalist
"She knocked me right out!"
Nancy King
Jazz Vocalist
Photo by Ann Schertz, Ann Schertz Photography
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