Catherine Russell - vocals;
Mark Shane - piano;
Lee Hudson - acoustic bass;
Matt Munisteri - guitar, banjo
Influences
Momma said there are only two kinds of music...GOOD and BAD...that about sums it up for me. My influences range from Etta James to Beatles to Bob Dylan...Louis Armstrong to Louis Jordan to my dad Luis Russell. Just finished listening to Astor Piazolla w/Kronos Quartet! Bach, Bernstein, Handel, Ravel, Ellington, Gershwin...and of course Garcia/Hunter!!! I love opera, gospel, early music on traditional instruments, Irish and American string band music, Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Voices I love (can't name them all)...Nancy Wilson, Abbey Lincoln, Ruth Brown, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Bobby Womack, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Michael Feinstein, Al Green, Levon Helm, Oumou Sangare, Habib Koite, David Byrne, David Bowie, Willie Nelson, James Brown, George Jones, Patsy Cline, Stanley Brothers, Charlie Rich. I've saved most of my concert ticket stubs from the days when concerts were anywhere from $1 to $5...ah those were the days! But these are the days too...and I must say THIS! I'm blessed with the best friends anyone could have!!!
The German Record Critics' Award ("Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik") has been in existence since 1963. It was inaugurated to set the "most rigorous standards for supreme achievement" in the field of recording.
Comprising 114 music critics, writers and editors in the German-speaking countries who are actively involved in the assessment of CDs and DVDs, the association is concerned to provide lovers of all types of music and audio-books with what, to the best of their knowledge and belief, is an honest guide to new releases of true artistic significance. It does not matter whether these have been produced by large or small, domestic or foreign record companies, whether they feature stars or not, or whether they are much-talked-about bestsellers or wallflowers.
In order to ensure that they reached their judgements independent of all commercial interests on the part of the producers, the jury had itself officially registered as a charity in 1988. Not only is it one of the cultural institutions supported by the Minister of State for Culture and the Media but, in the past, has also been supported by the Frankfurt Fair, the Frankfurt Feste and by Frankfurt's Alte Oper as well as the Beethoven Festival in Bonn. Since 2002 the German Record Critics' Award Association has close ties to the Foundation Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage) and its State Institute for Music Research with the Berlin Museum of Musical Instruments where every November the Annual Awards ("Jahrespreise") are presented to up to ten outstanding productions and Certificates of Special Merit ("Ehrenurkunden") are given to three artists and producers for their life achievement in the field of recording.
With its Quarterly Critics' Choice ("Bestenliste") the German Record Critics' Award recommends new releases which merit special attention either for the quality of interpretation or creativity, or for their value to the repertoire.
CATHERINE RUSSELL ON NPR'S WORLD CAFE AUGUST 5TH
Catherine Russell will be heard live on NPR's World Cafe with host David Dye on Tuesday August 5th. Find their local station here or listen online to the WXPN/Philadelphia stream Monday through Friday, 2pm to 4pm Eastern Standard Time here.
The audio for the show may also be available on the NPR site later that same day.
NPR'S FRESH AIR WITH TERRY GROSS FEATURES CATHERINE RUSSELL'S SENTIMENTAL STREAK, NOW NO. 3 ON ITUNES' TOP JAZZ ALBUMS
Catherine Russell's Fresh Air eplsode on NPR aired June 11th and is streamable online here. Sentimental Streak is currently No. 3 on iTunes' Top Jazz Albums, as well as No. 8 on Amazon.com, with her debut album Cat at No. 24 on iTunes. Sentimental Streak is also back on the June Jazz Week Charts, at No. 44, making it 17 weeks so far on the chart!
Catherine Russell: 'Real Thing' Gets Sentimental
* Audio for today's show will be available at approx. 3:00 p.m. ET.
Fresh Air from WHYY, June 11, 2008 - Her father was Louis Armstrong's music director and a noted bandleader in his own right; her mother was a member of the iconic International Sweethearts of Rhythm.
Critic Nat Hentoff says that pedigree — and her own unmistakable chops — make Cat Russell "the real thing" in a crowd of jazz wannabes "who couldn't lasted through a chorus in a contest with Ella Fitzgerald or Betty Carter."
Russell talks to Terry Gross about her musical roots — and about her new album, A Sentimental Streak.
Russell is also playing some new West Coast dates in her current summer tour schedule. Show dates include Portland OR on 7/16, San Francisco on 7/22, and San Diego and Los Angeles on the 24th and 25th respectively.
CATHERINE RUSSELL
Catherine Russell’s musical prowess transcends genre. Accordingly, Cat, Ms. Russell’s 2006 debut album, on Harmonia Mundi’s World Village imprint, showcases a mature, one of a kind, vocalist, who defies easy categorization. Her singing encompasses jazz balladry, bordello blues, dance hall swing, jump blues, country, pop, and soul. Catherine Russell embodies the deepest heart of American music in a single voice.
A native New Yorker, Catherine was born in 1956 with an enviable jazz pedigree. Her father, the late Luis Russell, was a pioneering pianist, composer, and bandleader who sat at the center of several of the seminal bands of 20th century American jazz and popular music. In 1935, Louis Armstrong, a fellow transplant from New Orleans to New York, named Luis Russell as his musical director and Russell's orchestra as his backing group. Catherine's mother, Carline Ray, is an outstanding bassist and vocalist and holder of advanced degrees from Julliard and Manhattan School of Music. Carline has performed
with Mary Lou Williams and Wynton Marsalis.
Ms. Russell attended the High School of Music and Art and later graduated with honors from American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Professional singing opportunities soon beckoned. Catherine toured Europe singing gospel music with a group fronted by Carrie Smith including Catherine's mother Carline Ray on bass.
Returning to New York City, Catherine sang blues and soul with Jimmy Vivino's Little Big Band where she met Donald Fagen in the fall of 1989. Soon after, Catherine joined Donald Fagen, performing in the N.Y. Rock N Soul Revue, which also included Boz Skaggs, Michael McDonald, Phoebe Snow and Chuck Jackson. When Donald Fagen returned to Steely Dan for tours of the U.S. and Japan, Catherine Russell came along as a backing vocalist. Catherine's growing reputation as a versatile and expressive singer led to a call from Paul Simon and a month long run in 1992 at the Paramount Theater in New York. Every night Catherine had the thrill to step out on a vocal duet with Paul Simon along with gospel legends The Mighty Clouds of Joy on "Slip Slidin' Away".
Today, Catherine Russell lives in Manhattan, her apartment walls adorned with the gold and platinum records on which she appears. She toured the globe with David Bowie as a vocalist and multiinstrumentalist on the hugely successful and critically acclaimed “A Reality Tour”, which earned the 1 top-grossing tour for the first half of 2004, according to Billboard. In addition, Ms. Russell has performed or recorded with a dizzyingly impressive array of trend setting artists, including Jackson Browne, Rosanne Cash, Cyndi Lauper, Joan Osborne, Michael Feinstein, Madonna, Al Green, J. Geils Band, Dolly Parton, and Isaac Hayes, among others. Catherine has also joined the faculty as Associate Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Catherine Russell is that rarest of entities – a genuine jazz and blues singer – who can sing virtually anything. Her voice is full blown feminity incarnate; a dusky, stalwart and soulful instrument that radiates interpretive power yet remains touchingly vulnerable. She launches fearlessly into each tune, getting inside the melody and capturing every emotion. Whether she’s shimmying through a barrelhouse stomper, channeling fifties R&B, dragging her weary heart through a torchy juke joint number,
or kicking up her heels honky tonk style, Ms. Russell can stand comparison to her greatest forebears. As Grammy Award winning Jazz historian, Phil Schaap, crows in his liner notes, Sarah Vaughan, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday finally have a worthy descendant.
Hey, Catherine. First saw you in your work with David Bowie. Impressed with your multi-instrumentalism and vocals. Nice to see you're a Jazzer at heart. Best wishes from Western Nevada!
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