Dee Bell – “Love For Sailin’ Over Seas: Then & Now”
Four years after “Lins, Lennox & Life”, singer Dee Bell returns with a couple of new tracks for “Love For Sailin’ Over Seas: Then & Now” which features songs from her previous albums “Silva Bell Elation” with Marcos Silva (2014) and “Sagacious Grace” (2011) and two more from the afore-mentioned 2018 album: “By Chance” and “Boa Nova” are a great reminder of her no-frills approach on songs by the great Ivan Lins.
Of the two new tracks, there is an instantly swinging and grooving version of Abbey Lincoln’s “I Got Thunder (And It Rings)” which includes the line for the title of this album. An unexpected guitar solo by the great Romero Lubambo adds some extra spice on this thrilling opener. Romero also arranged the Al Dubin/Harry Warren standard “I’ll String Along With You” where Dee shines again as a ballad singer and storyteller. And even though there is a restraint synth cushion which I usually don’t really appreciate, the piece works pretty well with its sympathetic understatement and sincerity.
Elsewhere on the record, we get the chance again to hear her wonderful interpretation of songs by Neil Young (a soulful and swinging “Harvest Moon”), Toninho Horta (an elegant “Beijo Partido”), Michel Legrand (a sassy and swinging “Watch What Happens”) and Marcos Valle (a charming, positively upbeat “The Face I Love”).
