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Stella Bass: Look For The Silver Lining

By Ian Patterson
February 7, 2024
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It is an enviable trait to always look for the silver lining in troubled times. For Dublin vocalist Stella Bass, when gigs dried up during the Covid pandemic, the silver lining was the gift of time. She did not waste it, studying music production with Berklee College, Boston, and music composition & arranging with Studio Orchestrations, Belfast. The seeds planted, work duly followed, with writing, arranging and syncing music for TV, film and gaming. She also decided that it was time to record again, almost a decade after Too Darn Hot (Self Produced, 2014). For Bass, the title of her second album seemed obvious from the outset.

Bass has led her own quartet for years, playing a weekly residency at Dublin's Caf�� en Seine. She has also sung with the long-running Dublin City Jazz Orchestra, so she can call on the cream of the city's jazz musicians. It is no less than her voice deserves. Just as pianist

Phil Ware

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Phil Ware's arrangements were key to the success of Too Darn Hot, another lauded pianist,

Johnny Taylor

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Johnny Taylor, leaves an indelible stamp on the standards-heavy Look for the Silver Lining, with arrangements which play to Bass' strengths.

Taylor is a refined pianist, one who values economy and space, qualities that also shape his arrangements. However, when the mood takes him he is also capable of lighting a fire, as he does on "Being Alive," and on the swinging "Old Devil Moon," while his silky touch chimes nicely with Bass' deft delivery on the ever-popular "Pure Imagination." Drummer

Dominic Mullan

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Dominic Mullan and bassist

Barry Donohue

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Barry Donohue, both long-standing collaborators, provide equally sympathetic support.

Telling cameos from flugelhornist

Ronan Dooney

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Ronan Dooney brighten "Blame It on My Youth" and the leader's own "All The Colours of My Love," while tenor saxophonist

Michael Buckley

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Buckley brings his customary panache to the swinging "This Could be the Start of Something Big" and the bossa nova-tinged "Change Partners."

But Bass is the real star of the show, her pure-toned voice, lightly spiced by vibrato, bossing the swingers, and imbuing the ballads with the requisite emotional nuance. In essence an interpretive jazz singer, albeit one who also sings Kurt Weil, Marlene Dietrich, Amy Winehouse and

Ella Fitzgerald

vocals
1917 - 1996

" data-original-title="" title="">Ella Fitzgerald, Bass contributes two original compositions. The swaying "All the Colours of My Heart" and the pretty ballad "Still," co-penned with Yann O'Brien and Neville Lloyd respectively, nestle comfortably among the standards. So comfortably, in fact, that for one not overly familiar with the standards presented here, it would be hard to pick out Bass' originals from those by Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin et al. She should not wait for the next pandemic before reaching for pen and blank paper.

Excellent production values give these strong performances the added luster they demand. Recommended for lovers of vocal jazz standards—sultry, swinging, playful and tender.

Learn more about our star rating system

Personnel

Stella Bass

vocals

Johnny Taylor

piano

Barry Donohue

bass

Dominic Mullan

drums

Michael Buckley

saxophone

Ronan Dooney

trumpet

Album information

Title: Look for the Silver Lining | Year Released: 2024 | Record Label: Self Produced

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