[Dixielandjazz] Catherine Russell interviewed -- LA Times

[Robert Ringwald]

In the Swing, Out Front or Behind
by Andy Gilbert
Los Angeles Times, September 16, 2012
OAKLAND -- As a young singer making her way on the New York scene in the mid-1980s,
Catherine Russell saw herself walking in Tina Turner's thigh-high boots, belting
out rock and soul.
Decades later, she hasn't exactly given up the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, but she's
made a name for herself interpreting sassy, vintage pop and blues tunes from the
era that ended with the advent of Elvis.
"I like anything that swings, generally the sound of music between the 1920s and
'50s," says Russell, 55, while relaxing backstage before an Oakland performance with
the Dukes of September Rhythm Revue, a tour on which she's singing backup for Donald
Fagen, Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald.
"I like good storytelling, and I like the blues. I like humor and unpredictable lyrics,
a good melody and interesting harmonies. That's really what motivates me."
Now recognized as one of the most savvy and sophisticated interpreters of classic
jazz and blues, Russell has found an avid audience with a series of albums, high-profile
gigs and appearances on the public radio showcase "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross. Her
biggest West Coast tour includes a gig Wednesday at the Catalina Bar and Grill followed
by her Monterey Jazz Festival debut Saturday.
For more than two decades Russell largely supported herself as a first-call backup
singer, touring with artists such as David Bowie, Paul Simon, Levon Helm, Rosanne
Cash, Jackson Browne, and, more recently, Steely Dan. When she released her first
album under her own name, 2006's critically hailed "Cat" (World Village), Russell
wasn't so much making a midcareer swerve into vintage jazz as claiming her birthright.
The daughter of Luis Russell, the Panamanian-born pianist, composer and bandleader
best remembered for his work with Louis Armstrong in the 1930s and '40s, she was
raised by her mother, the bassist, guitarist and vocalist Carline Ray, a graduate
of Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music who performed with the International
Sweethearts of Rhythm, Mercer Ellington and Mary Lou Williams.
Still gigging at 87, Ray is thrilled that her prodigal daughter has returned to the
jazz fold. Russell is working with Ray on her first album and considers her mother
an essential sounding board for uncovering overlooked material, like the 1936 Ella
Fitzgerald vehicle "Under the Spell of the Blues" that kicks off her latest album,
"Strictly Romancin'" (World Village).
"She's very excited about these songs," Russell says. "She loves that she can tell
me stories about the music and musicians. When I'm home I see her every day, and
lately we've been in the studio a lot. She's amazing. She's a one-take singer. I'm
definitely not a one-take singer."
Though her jazz career is flourishing, Russell has no plans to give up her work as
a backup singer, particularly when she gets a call for a tour with Steely Dan. Last
year she also performed widely with the American Beauty Project, interpreting songs
from the signature 1970 Grateful Dead albums "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty"
with Ollabelle and Jim Lauderdale.
"Backup singing is a different thing altogether," Russell says. "I love vocal harmony
and the skills that go into it, so I hope I never stop doing the backup thing."
With her long dreads piled on top of her head adding at least 6 inches to her diminutive
stature, Russell doesn't seem suited for staying in the background. On stage, she
looms in the spotlight as her mischievous, phosphorescent smile punctuates her double-entendre-laden
repertoire. Some of her employers clearly felt she had more to offer.
"Catherine has music in her DNA," writes noted jazz fan Donald Fagen in an email.
"You can hear that history and soul in every note she sings."
In making the transition from sidewoman to bandleader, Russell says the challenge
wasn't taking on business responsibilities so much as getting used to being the center
of attention.
"I had been encouraged to do my own thing for a long time," Russell says. "The first
few gigs I did in 2005 I thought, 'What have I done? Now my name is on the ticket.
They look at you when you sing. They look at you when you don't sing!' It was terrifying."
She cites the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995 with setting her on her present musical
path. An avid Deadhead, she was looking for a musical community after the Dead disbanded.
Sensing her need, her mother invited Russell to her Sunday brunch gig at the Greenwich
Village jazz spot Sweet Basil, where she accompanied nonagenarian trumpeter Doc Cheatham.
Russell never got a chance to perform with her father, who died when she was 7, and
the relationship with Cheatham offered another avenue back to jazz's pre-World War
II heyday.
"That became my refuge," Russell recalls. "You'd step in and it would be another
world. The first time I sat in I sang 'Just in Time.' Then it turned into them asking
me to sit in every week. Meeting Doc and singing with him was a turning point of
my life."


-Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Amateur (ham) Radio Operator K6YBV
916/ 806-9551

The crime of taxation is not in the taking of it. It's in the way it's spent.
--Will Rogers March 20, 1932