Bella Joan & Bob Gagnon at The Bierhall Brewing & Restaurant

Bella Joan is a dynamic jazz singer/songwriter who weaves jazz, soul, blues, and R&B into a sound that swings while both dreamy and bold. Born in Milwaukee, WI, and later raised in Vermont's Green Mountains, she grew up in a musical family and started singing and songwriting in handmade books at an early age, revealing her natural ear and spontaneity.
Her voice moves like a spell- smooth, soulful, silky, scat, raw emotion, and fearless improvisation. Fronting her band, formerly known as Bella and The Notables, she brings fire to the stage and depth to every note. As a board-certified music therapist, she sees music as both ritual and remedy.
Her debut album, Bella Joan, recorded at the iconic Tank Studio and arranged/co-produced by Sam Atallah, is a vivid portrait and genre-blending journey rooted in jazz and reaching for the cosmic, raw and real, with fire and grace.
In October 2025, Bella had a mini album tour with shows featuring standards and originals. Shows were in New Orleans, Louisiana (at 30/-90 and The AllWays Lounge & Cabaret Club) with the Bob Gagnon Quartet (Steve Sawyer, Josh Smith, Tom Chute/Norbert Susemihl), in Montreal, Quebec (at La Petite Marche) with Bob Gagnon and Rob Duguay, in Burlington, Vermont (at The 126) with Bob Gagnon, Steve Sawyer, Tom Cleary, and Tom Teare, and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (at Bar Centro) with Keith Johnson, Aaron Johnson, and Tyler Steege.
Bella has studied with Stephanie Weigand, Andrea Mass, the acclaimed voice teacher Bill Reed, Piero Bonamico, Peter Boynton, Danyon Davis, Alan Langdon, and UVM's jazz staff, including Amber Delaurentis, Tom Cleary, Alex Stewart, Patricia Julien, Rick Davies, and Ray Vega. She has attended Interplay Jazz & Arts Camp, studying with Fred Haas, John Proulx, Sheila Jordan, Richie Iacona, Dominique Eade, Madeline Cole, Karrin Allyson, Michael Zoldos, Don Trennor, and Natalia Bernal. Bella sang backup for Kat Wright's soul band, touring throughout the United States and Canada, which included the Montreal Jazz Festival. She's jazz jammed in Milwaukee, Chicago, Austin, Nashville, New York City, Boston, throughout Vermont, and even in Taormina and Pavia, Italy. Accompanying the Vermont Jazz Trio, Bella opened for Dave Keller and Joe Louis Walker during the 2021 Stowe Indigenous Peoples Day Festival.
Bella attended the University of Vermont, where she majored in Music with a concentration in Jazz Studies. She then attended Lesley University, where she received a Master's Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Music Therapy.