Catherine Russell

Catherine Russell is a singer with a voice full of tradition, soul and seductiveness. She has a revivalist’s passion for vintage jazz and blues, not to forget a wealth of significant DNA: Both her father Luis, a pianist and bandleader from Panama, and her mother, the bassist-vocalist Carline Ray, were professional musicians who served as inspiration and role models. Carline turned 87 on April 21. 

Russell’s diverse musical resume has included recordings and performances with Paul Simon, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Rosanne Cash, Michael Feinstein and Steely Dan. She has been a featured performer on the international stage, including festivals such as Chicago Blues, Montreal Jazz, North Sea Jazz, Bern International Jazz, Tanglewood Jazz and I Love Jazz-Brazil. Russell has also sold out shows at the Kennedy Center, the Dakota in Minneapolis and Yoshi’s in San Francisco, and has been a featured guest on several National Public Radio series, including Mountain Stage, Piano Jazz, World Café and Beale Street Caravan. Her music has also scored high on the rankings with Downbeat, Jazzweek and Living Blues magazines. 

Russell’s new CD, Strictly Romancin’ (World Village/Harmonia Mundi,) her fourth, continues to breathe new life into songs that defined earlier generations. “I love the songs of the 1920s and 1930s,” she recently said on Mountain Stage. “They make me happy.” 

Russell, who previously performed in Central New York at the 2006 Syracuse Jazz Fest, will appear in concert with her quartet at Eastwood’s Palace Theatre, 2384 James St., on Saturday, April 28, 7 p.m. The event is part of Jazz Appreciation Month and is sponsored by WAER-FM 88.3, which is celebrating its 65th year, and Syracuse Jazz Fest Productions. Tickets are $20 and are available at Armory Square’s Sound Garden, 310 W. Jefferson St., or by calling 443-4834. 

Catherine Russell recently spoke with the Syracuse New Times from her home in New York City.

Q: Tell me about the band you travel with.

A: Our music director is Matt Munisteri. He plays guitar and banjo. Mark Shane is on piano. Lee Hudson plays bass and Mark McClean is on drums.

Q: What will your repertoire include?

A: It’s a mixture of jazz and blues. We’re going to do a lot of things from Strictly Romancin’, which came out in February. It’s pretty much swing-based.

Q: Your dad was a musician in Panama, wasn’t he?

A: Yes. In 1919 he was playing piano for the silent films, and then he won the Panamanian National Lottery. He then went directly to New Orleans and started his own band, which turned into the Luis Russell Orchestra. By the late 1920s his orchestra was playing all the top clubs in Harlem. Later Louis Armstrong adopted my father’s orchestra and my father fronted that orchestra from 1935 to 1944. 

His music from his recordings from 1926 to 1929 was some of the first music I remember hearing. He had a hit from that time, “New Call of the Freaks,” and I thought it was funny and I laughed and danced around the living room. 

My mother still is a musician. She is a bass player, vocalist, teacher, pianist, guitarist. She’s a graduate of the Julliard and Manhattan Schools of music. She played in the all-women swing orchestra called the International Sweethearts of Rhythm in 1946 and 1947. After that she worked with the Erskine Hawkins Band and with the Duke Ellington Band under the direction of Mercer Ellington and for many years with {vocalist} Mary Lou Williams. 

Q: What other musical influences have shaped your career?

A: I’ll start with Alberta Hunter. I went to the Cookery {Greenwich Village music venue} to see her during her comeback. She was in her early 80s. She made her audience feel like you were in her living room. She was a great jazz and blues singer and a very attractive woman. Ruth Brown was another big influence because of the way she handled her audience. You could always have a good time at their shows. And Abby Lincoln I loved because she was different. She just sang the song. Nothing fancy, just direct, an amazing vocalist. I like directness, not a lot of frills. 

I love Ella Fitzgerald. She wasn’t as much of an influence personally, but her teenage years with the Chick Webb Orchestra I loved. It was a young innocent delivery before she matured and got into the scat period of her career. I loved the songs in that era. 

Q: What is it about the music of the 1920s and the 1930s swing era that pulls you in?

A: It seems like the people were having such a good time recording the material. It was happy music, it was music for dancing, social in nature. 

Bebop and more modern forms of jazz seemed less social and not meant for dancing. But people smile and tap their feet when they hear these {swing} songs. It still serves the same function; it still seems to bring people together and put smiles on their faces and that makes me happy. We can forget our troubles for however long the show is and simplify life.

Q: Did you ever consider pursuing a more popular form of music other than jazz?

A: I have worked with many different artists in different genres. It’s been a good way to explore those things without having to embark on that myself. I’ve done a lot of songwriters’ demos and was able to find out what was natural for me as a vocalist. I don’t feel pop singing naturally. What’s natural to me is traditional jazz and blues and soul music. That’s where my voice lives, it’s where I can express myself best.

Q: What do you want in your musical future?

A: I want to sing and perform for as long as I possibly can. Performing is very therapeutic for me. I want to expand the swing orchestra to include more of my father’s arrangements, and explore the rhythm and blues period, the 1940s through the late 1950s. I also want to say that we are really looking forward to coming back and performing in Syracuse. We are really happy and blessed to do what we do.