(Review by Ann Alex).
The debut album from a singer who has been featured in many shows around Washington
DC, including the Westminster Jazz night series. Ms. Mitchell-Bell has been
involved with many genres of music and this CD includes both jazz standards and
R&B hits. It features a string quartet, some electronic wizardry - mainly a
pleasant synthesizer sound.
I
enjoyed the CD on the whole and the instrumental playing was very good, as is
the case with just about every album featuring a singer. However, I wasn't
completely comfortable with the vocals on some tracks. The voice sometimes
sounded a bit strident to my ears. I wondered if the singer had been involved
in musical theatre where the voice has to be projected throughout a large
auditorium, whereas singing jazz in a studio is quite different.
The
other tracks are: Autumn Leaves; Everything Must Change; Louisiana Sunday
Afternoon; Rio de Janeiro Blue; Skylark; The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face;
Let There Be Love; The Makings of You.
Ann Alex.
The
CD was self-released on May 3 and is available via all fine retailers.
Hazel
Mitchell-Bell (vocals); Craig Alston (saxes, flute); Chris Barrick
(vibraphones); Vince Evans (piano, keys, programming); Robert Fiester (guitar);
James B King Jr. (bass); J C Jefferson (drums); Asali Ruth McIntyre (violin);
Bonnie Grier (violin); Gerard Battle (viola); Denna Purdie (cello); Kim Sator
Randolph (harp).
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