Quiet Fire (Roberta Flack album)

Quiet Fire is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Roberta Flack, released in November 1971 by Atlantic Records. It was recorded at Atlantic Recording Studios, Regent Studios, and The Hit Factory in New York City. The album peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape, and its single "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" charted at number 76 on the Hot 100.

At the 15th Annual Grammy Awards, the album secured Roberta Flack a nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. However, the award went to Helen Reddy for I Am Woman.

Critical reception
In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave Quiet Fire a "C", writing that Flack occasionally "sounds kind, intelligent, and very likable, but she often exhibits the gratuitous gentility you'd expect of anyone who said 'between you and I.'" In a retrospective review, The Rolling Stone Album Guide (1992) gave it two out of five stars and claimed it "barely sparks at all". AllMusic's Stephen Cook was more enthusiastic, giving it four-and-a-half out of five stars and calling it "one of Flack's best". He believed its "varied mix all comes off sounding seamless" while writing: "Forgoing the full-throttled delivery of, say, Aretha Franklin, Flack translates the pathos of gospel expression into measured intensity and sighing, elongated phrases."

Musicians

 * Roberta Flack – piano, vocals
 * Joshie Armstead – background vocals
 * J.R. "Jim" Bailey – background vocals
 * Seymour Barab – cello
 * David Carey – vibraphone
 * Ron Carter – bass guitar
 * The Newark Boys Chorus – background vocals
 * Joel Dorn – background vocals
 * Joe Farrell – flute, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
 * Corky Hale – harp
 * Hilda Harris – background vocals
 * Cissy Houston – background vocals
 * Ted Hoyle – cello
 * Wally Kane – bassoon
 * Hubert Laws – flute
 * Buddy Lucas – harmonica
 * Ralph MacDonald – percussion, congas
 * Arif Mardin – background vocals, string arrangements, flute arrangement


 * Les McCann – background vocals
 * Hugh McCracken – guitar
 * Gene McDaniels – background vocals
 * Kermit Moore – cello
 * Romeo Penque – flute, soprano saxophone
 * Terry Plumeri – double bass
 * Seldon Powell – tenor saxophone
 * Bernard Purdie – drums
 * Chuck Rainey – bass, electric bass
 * George Ricci – cello
 * William Slapin – flute
 * Grady Tate – percussion, drums
 * Richard Tee – organ
 * Tasha Thomas – background vocals
 * Sammy Turner – background vocals

Production

 * Rod Bristow – photography
 * Deodato – horn arrangements, string arrangements
 * Joel Dorn – producer
 * William Eaton – horn arrangements, string arrangements
 * Ira Friedlander – cover design
 * Lewis Hahn – engineer
 * Bruce Tergesen – engineer