Songbird flies into Nelson
Isabella Miller Bell describes herself as a well travelled Scot with a backpack full of stories and songs.
Next week she’ll be bringing them to the Nelson region, for jazz and blues concerts at the Chanel Arts Centre in Motueka, hosted by the Motueka Music Group, and at Fairfield House in Nelson.
The concerts, Songbirds of the South, also feature Tasman contemporary singer Debra Lee, and Miller Bell’s fellow Cantabrians – jazz pianist John Bevin, fingerstyle slide guitarist Susan Grant and Mike Kime on upright bass.
Miller Bell, a singer-songwriter and guitarist who goes by the stage name Ma Bell, says the concerts will be an acoustic-based mix including folk-blues and jazz-blues, and a blend of original composition and covers of classic pieces.
Miller Bell has a passion for the stage and music, which has been a huge part of her life from an early age.
Born and raised in Scotland as one of nine children, Miller Bell grew up in a musical theatre family, with uncles and aunties who were concert hall performers.
At age 16 she left home with a blanket and a guitar, yearning for the stage and to explore the world.
Living in England in the 1970s and early 1980s, she then embarked on more travel before ending up in New Zealand and then moving to Australia to live. Miller Bell settled in New Zealand in 1987.
She has plenty of tales to tell her audience, she said.
‘‘I’m a bit of a storyteller,’’ she said, explaining how blues was a great medium for story telling.
Blues enabled her to weave stories of her own life into her performances, while jazz, which evolved from the blues, allowed her to access another part of her voice, she said.
She has been inspired by American jazz greats such as Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.
During the decades on her musical odyssey, Miller Bell has performed on streets, in schools, prisons, and local, national and international festivals and events. She has also recorded four albums.
She now has an entertainment company, Miller Bell Music, but said the Tasman district was a big part of her early performance career in New Zealand, as she performed a lot of shows in the area under the name Izzy Gardner in the early 1990s.
She’s looking forward to coming back to the Nelson region, having performed in Motueka last year.
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, next week’s shows will be her first since November.
Debra Lee, described as a singer with sass, sensitivity and soul, has been singing in the jazz and folk scenes since the 1990s and will present classics from Leonard Cohen, Bonnie Rait and Madeleine Peyroux, along with pieces by Prince and Bob Dylan.
Motueka Music Group president Colin Hooker said they were hoping for a great crowd for Songbirds of the South.
While restrictions in the red setting of the Covid-19 protection framework hampered crowd numbers for their events, those restrictions had now been lifted and the Motueka Music Group had a full programme of concerts ahead, with seven scheduled before the end of the year, Hooker said.
Songbirds of the South is on Saturday, May 7 at 7.30pm at the Chanel Arts Centre, Motueka and on Sunday, May 8, 7.30pm at Fairfield House, Nelson.
Tickets for the Motueka show are $25 for adults and $5 for schoolchildren, from Floral Affaire in Motueka (by cash payment) or at the door on the night.
Tickets for the Nelson show are $20 and available at humanitix.com and www.fairfieldnelson.org.nz