Personnel: Lisa Bell, vocals; John Armstrong, piano; Bijoux Barbosa, upright and electric bass; Larry Thompson, drums; Bill Payne, piano and organ; Gabriel Mark Hasselbach, trumpet, flute and flugelhorn; Bob Rebholz, tenor saxophone, flute and wind synth; Daniel Jones, dobro and pedal steel; Ross Martin, guitar; Christian Teele, percussion; David Short, cello; Leah Mohling, viola; Daniel Sweaney, violin; Kailin Yong, violin; Machan, Gregory Clark, Everett Bradley, Lisa Bell, Keith Bell, Ellen Ross and Robert Johnson, background vocals; Brendan Bell, Katy Hauge-Aldridge and Will Hauge-Aldridge, piano, recorder and shaker trio; string arrangements, John Armstrong; background vocal arrangements, Lance Bendiksen and Lisa Bell
Lisa Bell sings about love in all its manifestations the good, the bad, the funny and the sad. The Colorado songstress' slightly autobiographical story is told on her latest CD, It's All About Love. Bell draws from a mixed bag of genres and instrumentation, adding dobro and pedal steel on some of the songs. It's all good, as they say, if not necessarily all Jazz. Most of the songs were penned by Bell or co-written with pianist John Armstrong and are a look at the last five years of her life, with titles like "Ain't Divorce Grand", "Along the Beaches", "Faraway Friends" and "Mary Had a Little Plan", a clever and humorous rewording of the familiar children's song. Bell has a warm and engaging delivery and gets terrific support from her band mates.
By Linda Goshay