Great Players, Great Album – 300K Spotify Streams!

Posted bythestevebellprojectsPosted incomposer, Composing music, Earth Wind and Fire, jazz music, Music, new artist, new song, personal growth, Pop music, r&b, Recording music, Song writing, soul musicTags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Here is an article by the great music writer Kent Williams on our latest album ‘In this World’.

There is no doubt that with relatively low revenue numbers being achieved from streaming, artists are veering away from going into studio’s with a collection of top line session players and world class producers. For the big acts, while returns are lower, investment in recording is used for launching a tour or simply promoting their brand. For independent artists without scale, recording in studios has been difficult forcing them to master the home recording process drawing on amazing samples and the skills of part-time but often highly talented home based producers.

Steve Bell reflects on ‘In This World’ and it’s relative success as an independent smooth Jazz album

For Australian songwriter, Steve Bell, he had neither the background or time to make great home recordings. After thirty years as a CEO in professional services, his return to songwriting in 2020 meant that he hadn’t had the time to evolve with recording DAWS such as Protools, Reaper or Audacity. This became a problem. The first songs he was writing, using Protools as the canvas, were good ideas but just didn’t sound like the music he loved and wanted to create. Brought up on Earth, Wind and Fire, George Benson, Al Jarreau, TOTO, Bee Gees, George Duke and co., Bell’s ear was trained for high grade smooth jazz sounds.

By accident, he came across posts on Instagram of these high quality facilities and sounds available at Empire Music Studios in Melbourne, Australia. ‘I kept seeing producer Trev Carter’s photos on these posts and these amazing studio recording desks he operated on.’ After a few months of gazing in wonderment, Bell summoned up the courage to make an appointment with Paul Higgins and Trev. ‘I was genuinely scared to play them my stuff , because I thought they would think it was a load of shit.’ The opposite happened. Carter was complementary of Bell’s songs but was clear that better recording facilities and top line session musicians would realise the sound he craved.

The EP ‘Two of Us’ was the first studio recorded work Bell had released. The quality was exactly what he wanted; Smooth, incredible playing and beautifully mixed. Suddenly his songs moved from a ‘kind of alright’ sound to something ultra professional. Top artists were suddenly complimenting him on his work. It was an investment, but for the sound he achieved it was reasonable and propelled his reputation as a top smooth jazz songwriter. His latest album ‘In this World’ has only cemented Steve Bell’s reputation as a world class smooth jazz composer.

‘Trevor Carter is world class’ says Bell. ‘Without him I would never have got the sound how I wanted. He was able to bridge my personal uncertainty with professional outcomes simply by being a mega talent and a top bloke all at the same time

‘I never stop saying to people that the success of my latest smooth jazz album ‘In this World’ is not about my talent! Rather it is about the incredible team that came together from different parts of the world to make it all work.’

The cast of ‘In this World‘ is:

– Trevor Carter (Guitars, Producer and Engineer)

– Paul Higgins (Co-executive producer)

– John McAll (Keyboards and co-producer)

– John Israel (Vocal Production Bangalore)

– Mat Creedon (Guitar and Pre-production)

– Darryn Farrugia (Drums)

– Craig Newman (Bass Guitar)

– Kris Nandharaj (Guitars)

– Jordan Murray (Horn Arrangements & Trombone)

– Carlo Barbaro (Saxophone)

– Ed Fairlie (Trumpet)

– Jennifer Davids (Vocals)

– Emma Williams (Vocals)

– Tiara Abigail (Vocals)

– Jayaa (Vocals)

– Luke O’Connor (Vocals)

– Fallon Williams (Vocals)#composer

– Nikki Nicholls (Backing Vocals)

Published by thestevebellprojects

‘My thrill is to take relatively unknown, very unique and talented singers and compose and arrange retro songs that they record.’ Born in Melbourne, Australia, Steve Bell was brought up on seventies and eighties pop, soul and funk. He was obsessed with Earth Wind and Fire, Bee Gees, Al Jarreau, Gino Vannelli, TOTO, George Benson and, the great, David Foster. He liked class music with rich melodies - a big feature of his own writing today. While at college he played drums in numerous bands, but in his own words ‘wasn’t much chop at that’. But he did have a knack for playing piano by ear and writing ‘kind of cool’ ballads and soul songs. In his twenties he had a part-time role (on top of his day job) as a pop music critic for a local arts magazine, where he interviewed acclaimed artists from across the world. His interviews were always deep and focused on learning more and more about great songwriting and performing. Then he took a break - for over 25 years, running his company and being a family ‘guy’. However, he yearned for creative endeavours and once locked down during the COVID crisis, he started writing songs again. His first song ‘Lonely View’ was written looking out across the local bay from his composing studio and recorded using the amazing vocals of Jennifer Davids. Thus he started the journey of identifying a talented singer every few months and penning them a song with rich 70s and 80s melodies and jazz pop inspired chord structures.

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