Norma Jean Bell

Bio:

ABOUT NORMA JEAN BELL- Norma Jean Bell is the name and driving force behind the mysterious and sought after Detroit based Pandemonium label. A long term player on the US house scene. Norma has built a reputation throughout the music industry as a Detroit legend and is ranked firmly alongside revered producers such as Carl Craig, Mike Banks, Moodyman, Theo Parrish, et al. Having worked very closely with long time friend Kenny Dixon Jr., Norma is one of a few number finally bursting out of the 'house diva' box and coming into their own as a respected producer. A saxaphonist, singer, songwriter and producer, Norma Jean Bell was once a member of Frank Zappa's touring band, but in the 90's reincarnated herself in the dance world. Bell's breakthrough solo LP "Come Into My Room" was released in 2001 garnering kudos for its simmering house and Bell's own fluent saxaphonist work, she showed the breadth of her experience in funk, disco and pop with a nod to Jazz legend, John Coltrane.
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Member Since:

February 15, 2007

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Albums of the Year 2001

5.0



It is time for summing up a music year. Looking back on 2001, I have not had time to indulge in music as much as I usually do. 2001 has been quite busy in many respects of life. Nevertheless, I have had the privilege to find some new acts as well as re-discover some old records. The old stuff has mainly been jazz music and the new stuff has mostly been in the many different aspects of house music. In house music I would like to highlight Morgan Geist who came up with a number of excellent releases. Using both his own name and the Metro Area guise, Morgan Geist has contributed heavily to a new direction of tech house. It is almost possible to speak about a Metro Area genre with numerous artists creating "Metro Area sounding" music. Check out the stickers on 12" records in the "news" slots in the record stores and you'll see what I mean.

The second person worth extra attention in House music is Maurice Fulton who made a couple of good re-mixes, an outstanding album, Stress Why Put Me Through It and a real cool 12"; The Abdoer, using the Syclops guise.

In view of this I will claim that the most rewarding selections of artists and records are in the Single section.

A short word about the list: it can not be stated often enough that the best music is yet to come, it was not created yesterday or today, it will be created tomorrow and waits for the curious listener on the next record shopping spree. So, it is with great pleasure that I once again can look back on a musical year, and say that the past year of 2001 has been an exceptionally good year for music with lots of quality records for both dancing and listening pleasure. And at the same time feel quite confident that next year will be even more rewarding for the curious listener. Enjoy!

24th of December 2001

Albums

1. BUGGE WESSELTOFT (New Conception of Jazz) Moving
2. LUCINDA WILLIAMS Essemce
3. JAHEIM Ghetto Love
4. BEVERLEI BROWN Next To You
5. CALM Shadow Of The Earth
6. ORLANDO CACHAITO LOPEZ Cachaito
7. AALIYAH Aaliyah
8. ZERO 7 Simple Things


9. NORMA JEAN BELL
Come Into My Room
Peacefrog Recordings



Norma Jean Bell has been around for a while; she has been playing saxophone with Tommy Bolin Band and Frank Zappa in the 1970s. Today she rules the house music scene together with Moodyman, who has produced her debut album.



11. BEADY BELLE Home
10. JANITA I'll Be Fine
12. OSUNLADE Paradigm
13. NORKEN Spring Themes
14. SLAM Alien Radio
15. MAURICE FULTON Stress Why Put Me Through It
16. ROMINA JOHNSON Superbad
17. KOSHEEN Resist
18. FOXY BROWN Broken Silence
19. INDIA ARIE Acoustic Soul
20. ANGIE STONE MAHOGANY SOUL




Compilations

1. VARIOUS ARTISTS Talvin Singh Back To Mine


2. VARIOUS ARTISTS Do You Know House? Volume One V2

A collection of hard to get house house classics. Spanning from the anthem Pacha'a One Kiss from the "summer of love", 1988 and also included are Alexis P Sutter's Stop! (We Need Each Other), Club Ice's Manhasset, DJ Rasoul's anthem Let Me Love You and Norma Jean Bell's Nobody's Gonna Love Ya. The CD has 12 songs and is mixed, the vinyl has 10 songs and is unmixed.

Sounds Like:

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Record Label:

Pandemonium