[Dixielandjazz] Catherine Russell interviewed

[Hans en Corrie]

Enjoy a review from a small in-shop concert in The Netherlands last fall:
http://keepswinging.blogspot.com/2010/10/catherine-russell-warms-up-wet-and.
html ( copy and paste)

Hans

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] Namens Robert Ringwald
Verzonden: zaterdag 29 januari 2011 17:33
Aan: Hans Koert
CC: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
Onderwerp: [Dixielandjazz] Catherine Russell interviewed

Catherine Russell interviewed

A Leading Lady at Last
Longtime backup vocalist Catherine Russell steps into the spotlight
by Tad Hendrickson
Newark Star-Ledger, January 28, 2011
A career backup plan usually involves banking, accounting or something else
proud
parents refer to as "stable." But singer Catherine Russell worked from a
different
perspective.
She started out as a dancer, performing in a Katherine Dunham Dance Company
production
of "Aida" at the Metropolitan Opera. Then after a sojourn to California, the
New
York City native returned to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Unsatisfied
with the way she was typecast for roles, she turned to singing.
"I loved theater, and the study of acting helped me get through some stuff
emotionally,"
Russell said recently from her apartment in Manhattan. "It saved my life,
but it
is difficult to pursue as a profession. Music turned out to be a lot easier
for me."
The daughter of pianist Luis Russell (Louis Armstrong's longtime musical
director)
and Carline Ray (a bassist and vocalist who graduated from Juilliard and
played with
many jazz legends), she found herself in the enviable position of having
both the
talent and the connections to make a go of it as a singer.
"Naturally you want to do something different than your parents do," she
said. "But
I figured out that it's really the only thing I can do."
Russell and her trio will play two sets at the Shanghai Jazz restaurant/club
on Saturday
as part of a Chinese New Year celebration ushering in the Year of the
Rabbit. The
singer calls the club her New Jersey home; she has played there regularly
for the
last 13 years and led her first bands there after bassist Earl May brought
her along
as a member of his group.
Russell, 54, has been singing professionally since the 1980s, but has worked
as a
backup singer for most of that time. Her credits include Rosanne Cash, Cyndi
Lauper
and Jackson Browne, and she has been with Steely Dan since the veteran
jazz-rock
group began touring again in the 1990s. She was so busy supporting other
musicians
that it wasn't until 2006 that her debut album, "Cat," came out.
While her credits are varied, her three albums are a classic mix of early
blues and
swing jazz.
"When I listen to music from the '20s, '30s, '40s, some '50s and some early
rhythm
and blues, I just start smiling." Russell said, citing Louis Armstrong, Fats
Waller,
Duke Ellington, and Jimmie Lunceford as favorites. "Or maybe it's because my
dad
was a pioneer in that music. So it was some of the first music I remember
hearing.
That may be why I identify with it. I feel good when I listen to it."
Whatever the reason, her excitement and emotion are projected to the
audience when
she performs. Russell draws upon her theater background to tell the songs'
stories,
choosing not to sing a song unless the lyrics make sense and she feels
transported.
Like all great singers, she takes the audience along with her as she tackles
classics
like Willie Dixon's "Spoonful" and Jimmy Van Heusen's "Darn that Dream," or
even
her father's "Back o' Town Blues."
"I never thought I was going to be a bandleader," she said of her late
arrival as
a solo artist. "I'm happy about it because I feel like this is the prime of
my life.
"I'm actually ready now. All those years of touring allowed me to get out
all my
bad habits and partying. So now it's working out the way it's supposed to."


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
530/ 642-9551 Office
916/ 806-9551 Cell
Amateur (Ham) Radio K6YBV

"Congress was broadcast live on Facebook for the first time in history. 
Now you can waste time and not get work done by watching Congress waste time
and not get work done."
--Jimmy Fallon


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