User:JAZZHISTORYFAN

Dee Bell (b. July 16, 1950, in Fort Wayne, Indiana) is an American jazz singer.

A veteran performer both internationally and domestically, Bell has appeared at the Golden Globe Awards, in The Russian River Jazz Festival, the well-known Jazz in the City Festival, the first and only Mill Valley Jazz Festival, the Napa Valley Mustard Festival and the Cotati Jazz Festival to name a few. She has appeared both on television and on the hotel circuit. Leonard Feather of the [Los Angeles Times] [[Media:www.latimes.com/]]wrote in a 1985 article that "Bell has a haunting, jazz-infected sound, her diction and phrasing flawless." Jay Roebuck writer for the [Orange County Register] chose One by One as the third best album of 1985s top ten for his newspaper where in one of his articles he stated that "Dee Bell sings with a beautiful, clear voice that brings to mind Jackie Cain with just atouch of Chris Connor here and there. It's a pleasant combination, and she definitely has style of her own." In England's [Jazz Journal], Derrick-Stewart Baxter also wrote in 1985 that "Dee Bell is more than just a good professional. She knows just how to bring the best out in a song. She does her own thing, lazy, hazy smoky singing." Other articles can be found about Bell in the 1983, 1984, and 1985 archives of the San Francisco Chronicle[[Media:www.sfchron.com/]], the Stereo Review, The Washington Post, The Indianapolis Star, The Ft. Lauderdale Tribune, and The Jazz Times International to name a few.

Her first musical training began in her musical family where everyone played an instrument and sang. She was first chair clarinet in her high school band and was part of an acapella trio from the age of ten through her senior year at Plainfield High School. Dee Bell graduated from Indiana University in December of 1972 with a BS in Art Education, lived on the edge of the Hoosier National Forest in a 2-room cabin with a woodstove for heat, and was co-founder and head chef of the Earth Kitchen vegetarian restaurant in Bloomington, Indiana (the restaurant fostered the food cooperative and grocery store, Bloomingfoods).

Bell now resides in Dillon Beach, California with her son and husband. She continues to perform and write lyrics and music.