Madeline Bell
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Madeline Bell
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This concert was advertised as the BBC Big Band, which to be honest is not really my cup of tea. I was just about to turn the page of the brochure when I spotted that their guest vocalist was Madeline Bell. Madeline Bell is probably best known for her role as lead singer of the pop group Blue Mink. Prior to that however she worked as a session singer to Dusty Springfield and many other big soul acts visiting from America. She also released several soul songs in her own right including the Northern Anthem 'Picture Me Gone'. I was optimistic therefore that the concert would have some soulful content. The band opened with several jazz and swing numbers. None of them were familiar to me, nor much to my taste, but there was no doubting that they were very talented musicians. If I have any complaint it was the way that they milked the audience for applause after every song. Every tune seemed to require acknowledgement of at least five different members of the band, without which they might have got at least another six numbers in. When Madeline eventually came on she received a rapturous welcome. She was born in 1942, which by my reckoning, makes her fifty-nine and there can be no doubt that she looked very good for someone of that age. Her voice was still as strong and as clear as it has ever been. The main disappointment however was the choice of material which was mainly supper club stuff. The second half began pretty much where the first half left off. Some of the instrumentals were probably as close as I will ever come to a Spectoresque 'Wall of Sound'. Madeline's material was also slightly better with some blues and Duke Ellington numbers which she more than did justice to. In the final analysis it was a very good concert by talented musicians, but despite the presence of Madeline Bell much more geared towards the jazz rather than the soul. Maybe I might have appreciated it more had I not just seen Edwin Starr the night before. His was an act she couldn't hope to match.
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Why Not visit the Authors other Website, 'The Alternative Blackpool Website' at http://www.localdial.com/users/jsyedu133/bpool This Site Last Updated 18/05/05
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