  Leonard Feather-CALENDER 'LOVE WILL WIN.' Dave Mckay Trio. Discovery DS 883. Soul is the ingredient, pianist Mackay and flutist Lori Bell, backed by the eminenet bassist Andy Simpkins, serve it up in substantial portions on 'Just Friends,' Mal Waldron's 'Soul Eyes' and three Mackay originals. Bell, 25, is a new talent on whom to keep one's ears trained. 4 1/2 stars. |
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Reviews
Lori Bell Quartet - Brooklyn Dreaming
Best in Jazz 2016 - HUFFINGTON POST
Top CD's 2016 - DOWNBEAT
Top 25 jazz CD's - Scott Yanow's list
Editors Pick - Downbeat
Global Music Award winner
'Brooklyn Dreaming"
'Brooklyn Dreaming' - Downbeat 'Editors Pick' January 2016
"Bell’s playing is lithe and energetic, her lines unspooling with ease. But she’s also an improvisational shapeshifter. On “Times Squared,” she transitions seamlessly between rapidly tongued staccato blasts and relaxed legato sighs. On “Streets Of New York,” she skips from hardnosed modal lines to graceful swing motifs with a clean, collected assurance". Brian Zimmerman - Downbeat
http://www.downbeat.com/defaultl.asp?
"Visionary, transcendent pieces. The standard for a flute-led album” Jazz da Gama
http://jazzdagama.com/reviews/cds/lori-bell-quartet-brooklyn-dreaming/
"Bell glides, glows, and runs up and down her flute in seemingly effortless fashion throughout. Brooklyn Dreaming is a tight and classy affair that furthers Bell's fine reputation". All About Jazz
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/brooklyn-dreaming-lori-bell-self-produced-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php?width=1280
"This is a creative work that ‘swings’ and purrs, showcasing her virtuosity and hard core improvisational skills". Dee Dee McNeil
https://musicalmemoirs.wordpress.com/2016/01/23/melodic-landscapes-unveiled-in-the-new-year 2016
"Bell flaunts prodigious chops on both C flute and alto flute, though her pen might be
mightier than her sword. Her Originals all reveal a wide harmonic palette, a sophisticated rhythmic sensibility and a refined sense of dynamics, along with an urge to swing". Bill Milkowski - Downbeat March 2016
http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2016/DB1603/default.html
“Fast, in-your-face, loquacious, but friendly and swinging. Bell finds the mood, explores the variations, makes it all swing, her notes precise and rounded, fleeting and wild in their spirit.”
San Diego Troubadour 2016
http://sandiegotroubadour.com/2016/02/lori-bell-brooklyn-dreaming/
"Lori Bell uses flute and composing skills to great reward...
As rewarding as Nathan’s Famous.” Jazz Weekly
http://www.jazzweekly.com/2016/02/lori-bell-quartet-brooklyn-dreaming/
"Lori Bell's latest recording 'Brooklyn Dreaming' reveals a master of the mainstream at the absolute top of her game. Bell deftly exploits blues ideology with a warm, liquid sound and modern intervallic improvisation." Robert Bush
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/blogs/sounddiego/Lori-Bell-Dreams-of-Brooklyn-382392481.html
"A virtuoso musician, Bell is both an instrumentalist and an expert composer."
Ric Bang - Jazz Scan
http://www.jazzscan.com/2016/04/lori-bell-quartet-brooklyn-dreaming.html
Not very long ago, jazz releases on artist-owned independent labels often looked a bit amateurish, but no longer. Lori Bell’s Brooklyn Dreaming (available from www.loribellflute.com) is a first class CD on all levels including its packaging. Ms. Bell heads an all-star quartet featuring the great pianist Tamir Hendelman, bassist Katie Thiroux and drummer Matt Witek during three standards and six originals. All of Bell’s pieces have titles that have something to do with New York and Brooklyn where she was born and grew up.
Lori Bell has long been one of the top flutists in jazz and her playing on Brooklyn Dreaming is heard at its prime. Her set includes such highlights as a fairly rare version of Charles Mingus’ “Nostalgia In Times Square,” a hot “I Got Rhythm” jam on “52nd Street Theme,” the picturesque ballad “Brooklyn Dreaming,” a cooking “A Dog On Coney,” the harmonically challenging “Lower Manhattan,” and a 5/4 version of “Harlem Nocturne.” Bell, whether on the C-flute or alto flute, never runs out of creative ideas, the virtuosic Hendelman has many chances to stretch out, and both Thiroux and Witek always keep the music swinging.
Brooklyn Dreaming, which is easily recommended, is a perfect way to be introduced to the excellent playing of Lori Bell.
Scott Yanow
"Brooklyn Dreaming" Best of Jazz 2016 HUFFINGTON POST
https://youtu.be/KA8duasSwWQ
"Visionary, transcendent pieces. The standard for a flute-led album” Jazz da Gama
"Bell glides, glows, and runs up and down her flute in seemingly effortless fashion throughout. Brooklyn Dreaming is a tight and classy affair that furthers Bell's fine reputation".
All About Jazz
" I like this a lot. Bell's flute tone and chops are very strong, her ideas fresh and attractive" Howard Mandel
"Lori Bell's latest recording 'Brooklyn Dreaming' reveals a master of the mainstream at the absolute top of her game. Bell deftly exploits blues ideology with a warm, liquid sound and modern intervallic improvisation." Robert Bush
"This is a creative work that ‘swings’ and purrs, showcasing her virtuosity and hard core improvisational skills".
Dee Dee McNeil
Lori Bell has long been one of the top flutists in jazz and her playing on Brooklyn Dreaming is heard at its prime. Bell, whether on the C-flute or alto flute, never runs out of creative ideas. Brooklyn Dreaming, which is easily recommended, is a perfect way to be introduced to the excellent playing of Lori Bell.
Scott Yanow
“Fast, in-your-face, loquacious, but friendly and swinging. Bell finds the mood, explores the variations, makes it all swing, her notes precise and rounded, fleeting and wild in their spirit.”
San Diego Troubadour
"Lori Bell uses flute and composing skills to great reward...
As rewarding as Nathan’s Famous.” Jazz Weekly
“Lori Bell is an exceptionally skilled instrumentalist who brings inventive depth and subtle swing to the repertoire presented here.”
Jazz Journal UK ****
"The Lori Bell Quartet is an ensemble that demands attention. These are four top notch musicians who work as one. Their collaboration has produced an album that is both beautiful and intelligent." Blogcritics
"Brooklyn Dreaming is a strong vibrant statement in modern jazz”
O’s Place For Jazz
"Bell’s flute playing is pure jazz energy in the fire of her light switch” Carol Weber, AXS.com
"Bell brings to mind pre ‘60s Herbie Mann in tone and most of all in
hard driving spirit. Jazz flute, no compromise." Robert Rusch-Cadence
2016 Winner Global Music Awards
for Outstanding Achievement "Brooklyn Dreaming" album + composition
"A virtuoso musician, Bell is both an instrumentalist and an expert composer." Ric Bang - Jazz Scan
For your consideration - 59th Grammy Ballot
LORI BELL QUARTET - BROOKLYN DREAMING
Best Instrumental Composition : A DOG ON CONEY
Best Jazz Instrumental Album BROOKLYN DREAMING
Best Improvised Jazz Solo 52ND STREET THEME
Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella NOSTALGIA IN TIMES SQUARE
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"Lori Bell is a great flutist and a great musician. She has a dedication to both jazz and classical music and is wonderful at both. Her sound and technique are beautiful and personal. She's a pianist, composer and arranger, a teacher, and is always seeking to contribute more as an artist. That's inspiring." Nelson Rangell
"Your pitch, control and technical prowess is, as always, amazing". Holly Hofmann
"Bell led the trio through a remarkable examination beginning with long streams of mulit-note ideas, free trilling and subtle whistle-stops, then suddenly she began a series of chromatic sequences that brought the spirit of Eric Dolphy’s “Gazzeloni” to mind". Robert Bush
“INCREDIBLE flutist, Lori Bell!
Lori is truly one-of-a-kind. Tone, feel, groove...just magical.
You are a flute Jedi master, Lori! What a thrill to accompany you and interact.” Josh Nelson
"The Music of Djavan"
Nominated Best Jazz Album San Diego Music Awards
"One of the finest virtuoso flutists of our time" Latin Jazz Network
"A brilliant piece of discovery by phenomenal flutist Lori Bell"
All About Jazz
"Bell is one of the unsung masters of the SD jazz scene--right away she crafted a winding improvisation with full-bodied timbre and daring harmonic choices". Robert Bush
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2015 'Night Soliloquy" Azica Records
"While there are many attractive features to Bell's performances, the most important one is that she is a storyteller. This CD is highly recommended not only for the repertoire but for the captivating performances by Bell, Snodgrass and Hendelman"
Flute Talk Magazine
2015 "Night soliloquy"
Lori Bell is a Pearl Artist, but I hadn’t heard of her before. She is a fantastic player, and the run down to a low B in her own arrangement of the Boulanger will be a delight for any flutist to hear. The Gubaidulina and a song by Barber also heard in Bell’s own arrangements. She was mentored by Claude Monteux, and this release includes a short piece she wrote for his 85th birthday.
Diane Snodgrass is an able partner in this program consisting in part of familiar flute favorites. The Boulanger and Gubaidulina have aggressive piano parts; she could have played out more on the Boulanger and perhaps let the sound engineer worry about the balance. The Gubaidulina builds to a huge climax with plenty of power.
© 2014 American Record Guide
www.sandiegotroubadour.com (go to back issue) September 2010
Check out more recent articles and reviews from the San Diego Reader.
Global Music Award 2011
www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/jamsession/2011/dec/23/and-the-winner-is-lori-bell/
Review of concert at Dizzy's 12/30/2011
www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/jam-session/2011/dec/31/a-meeting-of-the-spirits-at-dizzys/
 Interplay Dave Mackay, Lori Bell, Ron Satterfield. How would piano, flute and guitar, plus some vocalese, sound together on a jazz CD? In this case, they're simply astonishing. But don't you lose something vital when you dispense with drums and bass? Yes: your inhibitions. Three of today's most highly evolved, spontaneously interactive musicians have collaborated on this venture out of San Diego. In the opener, the pianist's romp 'Joyful,' the tone is set. Mackay's hard-swinging, humor-laden piano statements are punctuated by the bass lines of Satterfield's guitar, as remarkable as those of Tuck & Patti's Tuck Andress. Bell's incisive flute and Satterfield's vocalizing play a deceptively intricate game of tag, and Mackay is always right there with conspiratorial wit. Cut number two ingeniously combines the Ellington/Tizol and Strayhorn favorites 'Caravan' and 'Take the A Train' with a relentless, Latin-flavored 6/8 groove. Mackay and Bell introduce 'When You Wish Upon a Star' in an undulating stirde/shuffle. The half-chorus of piano solo is a model of economy and taste. 'Sweet and Lovely' has Satterfield stepping forward from light Freddie Green-style chording to full-throttle scat-singing and comping. Bell comines virtuosity with wit in her ear-popping solo, quoting 'It Ain't Necessarily So' and spinting into double-time. The flutist's original contributrion is a happy waltz, 'Playing in the Snow,' which features an exquisite piano solo and Satterfield's soaring vocalizing. Elsewhere, there's a Pat Metheny tune, a 'Wizard of Oz' medley (Mackay, who recorded 'Its Not East Being Green' over a decade ago, is fortunately still on speaking terms with his inner child), a Benny Carter standard, more Ellington, Billie Holiday's 'God Bless the Child,' and a closing number by the guitarist. It's hard to imagine a more synergistic gathering of virtuosity, freedom and the sheer joy of musical conversation. - Richard Simon    'Flute of distinction' George Varga-Pop Beat. San Diego flutist Lori Bell has performed with such jazz luminaries as pianists Mike Wofford and Dave Mackay (her longtime musical partner), and former Sarah Vaughan bassists Andy Simpkins and Bob Magnusson. But her performance last month at the Mary Lou Williams wonmen in Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., stands out as a highlight in her career. 'It was a very prestigious gig', said Bell, 39, who performed with the Detroit-based quartet Straight Ahead. .... 'They faxed me their arrangements and overnighted their CD and I memorizd all their original material,' Bell said. 'We had a 20-minute rehearsal at the Kennedy Center, and then we opened up the festival. It was exciting.' Other featured artists included Tania Maria, Shirley Scott, the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra and 10 others. Bell also participated in two jam sessions with trumpeter Stacy Rowles, saxophonist Ann Patterson, the rhythm sections from Maiden Voyage and Diva. 'I heard from several people in attendance that (noted pianist and jazz educator) Billy Taylor said he was impressed with my playing,' Bell said. 'And being heard and recognized by the other female artists there was wonderful. I would love to be invited back to next year's festival with my trio Interplay, which features Dave Mackay and Ron Satterfield.' |
 Read The newest review from 4/2009 New Audiophile Audition
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