BIOGRAPHY
Rachel Gould is known for her unique interpretation of standard material, her outstanding musicianship, her original compositions sung and played by herself and others, and her generous, individualized teaching style, evidenced by her countless former students leaving their mark on today’s international jazz scene.
SINGER, COMPOSER, LYRICIST, EDUCATOR
Rachel Gould, born June 25, 1953 in Camden, New Jersey, USA, studied cello and classical singing at Boston University. She began her professional singing career in the early 1970’s in the United States, toured Europe and settled in Germany in 1975. She moved to Switzerland in 1988 to take up a teaching position at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern and, in the end of 1991, moved to The Netherlands, where she taught at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague for 20 years. She now divides her time between Holland and the United Kingdom.
She has made appearances on French, German, Japanese, Polish and Swiss TV and was the featured soloist for radio productions in Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States
Rachel taught jazz singing, jazz choir and ensemble at the Rheinische Musikhochschule in Cologne, Maastricht Conservatory and the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, as well as stints as guest teacher at the Remscheid Summer Jazz Clinics, Mainz University, Klagenfurt Conservatory, numerous jazz choir clinics, the Tűbingen Jazz Clinics, the Modelversuch at Hamburg Musikhochschule, the Sondrio Jazz Workshops, and at the Orsara Jazz Camp to name a few. In recent years she has been invited as a guest examiner at a number of major music institutions, including conservatories in Antwerp, Luzerne, Bern and Paris.
In her career as a singer Rachel has worked, performed and recorded with many well-known jazz musicians: Edgar van Asselt, Chet Baker, Benny Bailey, Clarence Becton, Jerry Bergonzi, Lou Blackburn, Richard Boone, Billy Brooks, Bobby Burgess, Phillipe Catherine, Hal Crook, Stef van Es, Joe Farnsworth, Glenn Ferris, Riccardo del Fra, Sandro Gibellini, Ulli Glassman, Michel Graillier, Charlie Green, Wolfgang Haffner, Joe Haider, Jake Hanna, Philip Harper, Woody Herman, Michel Herr, Greg Hutchinson, Bert Joris, Tilmar Junius, Stephen Kurman, Bart van Lier, Eric van Lier, Dennis Luxion, Rita Marcotulli, Sal Nistico, Tom Nicholas, Peter Nieuwerf, Pietro Odorici, Ruud Ouwerhand, Horace Parlan, Jacques Pelzer, Enrico Pieranunzi, Larry Porter, Ferdinand Povel, Andrea Pozza, Allan Praskin, Ruben Rodgers, Ack van Rooyen, Mario Rusca, Cees Slinger, Juraj Stanik, Marco Tamburini, Luigi Tessarolo, Marcello Tonolo, Pietro Tonolo, James Woode, Jon Webber, Bob Wijnen and many others. She has also worked with arrangers and bandleaders such as Dieter Glawishnig, Peter Herbolzheimer, Woody Herman, Bill Holman, Horst Jankowski, Silvan Koopman, René Laanen, Erwin Lehn, Rob Pronk, Dieter Reith, and with the Metropole Orchestra and the Skymasters Big Band.
Some of the festivals where Rachel has appeared are: The Singen Jazz Festival, the Leverkusen Jazz Festival, the Kempten Jazz Festival, the JIM Festival München (Germany), the Comblain-La-Tour Jazz Festival, the Liège Jazz Festival, the Jazz Rally, Brussels (Belgium), the International Jazz Vocalists Meeting in Zamosc (Poland), the Umbria Jazz Festival (Italy) and Jazz festivals in Clermont-Ferrand, Grenoble and Avignon (France).