Lori Bell
Higher Standards
Mainstream jazz with a touch of Brazilian
Lori Bell
Biography
Brooklyn native Lori Bell is a flutist and composer of admirable depth and broad musical sympathies. A resident of San Diego, she has contributed to the development of higher standards of performance while earning acclaim from both peers and critics for her artistry on stage and in recordings.
Lori has studied with such esteemed pedagogues as Frederick Baker, Damian Bursill-Hall, Judith Mendenhall, Claude Monteux, and Phil Cohen.
Her debut on Discovery Records, “Love Will Win” with pianist Dave Mackay and bassist Andy Simpkins, received warm praise and four and a half stars (out of five) from the esteemed Leonard Feather and was selected on the Grammy list for Best New Artist in 1983. A second Discovery disc, “Take Me To Brazil”, demonstrated her ability to maintain a high level of inspiration. This album featured the first of several fine original compositions and was enthusiastically given four stars by the Los Angeles Times in 1989.
Over the past 15 years, Ms. Bell’s many performances in venues such as the Wadsworth Theater, The Neurosciences Institute, and the Kennedy Center, established her reputation, among musicians and audiences alike, as a remarkably vital interpreter. A recent performance at The Vic was exemplary of this quality, prompting the critic for the L.A. Times to note that “Bell’s playing - on C flute and the lower, darker sounding alto flute - was gorgeous, filled with light and air on the ballads, briskly inventive on her bop-tinged improvisations”.
In 1998, this artistic maturity was delightfully demonstrated with her stellar work with Dave Mackay and guitarist/vocalist Ron Satterfield in the trio INTERPLAY. Their self-titled first album was selected on the 1999 Grammy ballot in four categories, including Best Jazz Solo by Ms. Bell on Pat Metheny’s, ”It’s Just Talk.” The disc, which garnered four stars from Scott Yanow in Strictly Jazz magazine, also features her composition “Playing in The Snow”, a waltz that skillfully combines an uncommon musicality with a fresh, intrinsic charm. After a 2004 date at “The Vic”, the L.A. Times noted that Interplay’s “constantly engaging set” rendered “the tunes with the collective enthusiasm and musicality that defines the work of this superlative ensemble”.
Ms. Bell conveyed her special talents to a wider audience with her most recent endeavor, her eponymous CD. Released in 2002 on the Beezwax label, the “Lori Bell” album featured several fine arrangements of original compositions and standards. The Grammy Award panel recognized the album’s comprehensive excellence with selections in five categories, among them Best Instrumental Arrangement, Best Composition, and Best Instrumental Solo.
Most recently, Ms. Bell headlined in at the Gala for the 2003 Annual Conference of the National Flute Association. She and her musical partner, Ron Satterfield, distinguished themselves as worthy peers of the many fine musicians that graced the stage that evening.
Currently, Lori is touring a concert program called “From Bach to Bebop”, and is teaching both classical technique and jazz improvisation as instructor of flute at San Diego State University.
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