Vincent Edward Gambella (July 28, 1932 – October 3, 2019), known as Vinnie Bell, was an American session guitarist, instrument designer and pioneer of

electronic effect An electronic effect influences the structure, reactivity, or properties of molecule but is neither a traditional bond nor a steric effect. In organic chemistry, the term stereoelectronic effect is also used to emphasize the relation between the ...

s in

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

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Life and career

He was born in Brooklyn, New York City, and studied guitar from childhood. He made his first recordings as a session musician on singles by such instrumental groups as the Overtones and the Gallahads, and played in nightclubs in New York City in the late 1950s. During this time, he developed his characteristic "watery" guitar sound, popular in instrumental

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

in the 1960s. By 1962, Bell decided to devote his energies to working as a

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

musician in New York and Los Angeles. In 1963 he did a session with the French

Jean-Jacques Perrey Jean Marcel Leroy (; 20 January 1929 – 4 November 2016), popularly known as Jean-Jacques Perrey, was a French electronic music performer, composer, producer, and promoter. He is considered a pioneer of pop electronica.Ondioline The Ondioline is an electronic keyboard musical instrument, developed and built by Frenchman Georges Jenny. Sometimes referred to as the "Jenny Ondioline," the instrument is considered a forerunner of the synthesizer. First conceived by Jenny i ...

. After that Vinnie along with Perrey recorded several successful commercials, when Jean-Jacques got a contract with the

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...

label. Perrey asked him to be the lead guitarist for his recording sessions as "E.V.A." from ''

Moog Indigo ''Moog Indigo'' is the ninth studio album by the French electronic music pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey, released in 1970 on the Vanguard Records label. The name album is a reference to Jazz song "Mood Indigo" by Duke Ellington. Composition and rec ...

'' (1970). He also helped design a number of

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

models with the company

Danelectro Danelectro is a brand of musical instruments and accessories, founded in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1947. The company is known primarily for its string instruments that employed unique designs and manufacturing processes. The Danelectro company was ...

for its Coral line of instruments, including the "Bellzouki" electric

12-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

, and the

electric sitar An electric sitar is a type of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the sitar, a traditional musical instrument of India. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional ...

, which was used, not necessarily by Bell, on such hits as "

Cry Like a Baby "Cry Like a Baby" is a 1968 song written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, and performed by The Box Tops. The song reached #2 in April 1968 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, a position it held for two weeks. It was kept out of the top spot by ...

" by

The Box Tops The Box Tops is an American rock band formed in Memphis in 1967. They are best known for the hits " The Letter", "Cry Like a Baby", "Choo Choo Train," and " Soul Deep" and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. They perform ...

, "

Green Tambourine "Green Tambourine" is a song written and composed by Paul Leka (who also produced it) and Shelley Pinz. It was the biggest hit by the 1960s Ohio-based rock group the Lemon Pipers, as well as the title track of their debut album, ''Green Tambouri ...

" by

The Lemon Pipers The Lemon Pipers were a 1960s American psychedelic rock band from Oxford, Ohio, United States, known chiefly for their song " Green Tambourine", which reached No. 1 in the United States in 1968. The song has been credited as being the first bub ...

, and a cover of the love theme from the 1970

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, ''

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

''. The last of these sold over one million copies and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. It also won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for

Best Instrumental Composition The Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition (including its previous names) has been awarded since 1960. The award is presented to the composer of an original piece of music (not an adaptation), first released during the eligibility year. I ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

, while Bell was nominated for Best Instrumental Performance. As well as being notable for his technical innovations, Bell worked extensively as a session player, playing on tracks such as " The Sounds of Silence" by

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...

and for artists such as The Four Seasons and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

. He also recorded occasionally under his own name, his albums including ''The Soundtronic Guitar of Vincent Bell'' (Independent Record Company, 1960), ''Whistle Stop'' (Verve, 1964), and ''Pop Goes the Electric Sitar'' (Decca, 1967). He died on October 3, 2019 at the age of 87.

Discography

Albums

* ''The Soundtronic Guitar of Vincent Bell'' (1959) * ''Whistle Stop'' (Verve, 1964) * ''Big Sixteen Guitar Favorites'' (Musicor, 1965) * ''Pop Goes the Electric Sitar'' (Decca, 1967) * ''Good Morning Starshine'' (Decca, 1969) * ''Airport Love Theme'' (Decca, 1970)

Singles

*"Airport Love Theme" ( US # 31, 1970; AC # 2, 1970, Australia #4) *"Nikki" (1970) Did not chart

As sideman

With

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

*'' Quincy Jones Explores the Music of Henry Mancini'' (Mercury, 1964) With

Les McCann Leslie Coleman McCann (born September 23, 1935) is an American jazz pianist and vocalist.Feather, Leonard, and Ira Gitler (2007), ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 448. Oxford University Press. Early life Les McCann was born in ...

*'' Les McCann Plays the Hits'' (Limelight, 1966) With

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...

*''

Mumbles Mumbles ( cy, Mwmbwls) is a headland sited on the western edge of Swansea Bay on the southern coast of Wales. Toponym Mumbles has been noted for its unusual place name. The headland is thought by some to have been named by French sailors, ...

'' (Mainstream, 1966)

References

External links

Vinnie Bell website (Preserved at danacountryman.com)Vinnie Bell Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2017) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Vincent 1932 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American inventors American rhythm and blues guitarists American male guitarists American rock guitarists American session musicians Decca Records artists Guitarists from New York City Musicians from Brooklyn 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians