This is Catherine Russell doing exactly what she does best, in front of a live audience, with a band that matches her every step of the way. Put it on and try not to smile.
Dot Time Records
Catherine Russell – vocals; Matt Munisteri – guitar; Ben Paterson – piano; Russell Hall – bass; Domo Branch – drums; Jon-Erik Kellso – trumpet; John Allred – trombone; Evan Arntzen – tenor sax, clarinet; Mark Lopeman – horn arrangements & adaptations SPECIAL GUEST: Michela Marino Lerman – tap dancer (2,4,9,11)
Catherine Russell has spent decades being the vocalist everyone wants in the room — over 200 albums, David Bowie, Steely Dan, Wynton Marsalis, three GRAMMY nominations for her own records. Her fans know how good she is. What they’ve been asking for, for years, is a live album. Consider that request gloriously fulfilled.
Russell built the program honoring The Hot Club of New York, a group of devotees who gather weekly to spin 78rpm jazz and blues records. The sources — Hot Lips Page, Blanche Calloway, Tiny Grimes, Helen Humes, arranger and bandleader Luis Russell, her own father —are songs she clearly loves, and it shows in every phrase she sings.
Russell’s phrasing is something else. On “I Just Refuse To Sing The Blues” she smears notes from her mid-range up into the upper register and makes it sound effortless, then eases back behind the beat in a way that makes the whole band swing harder. John Allred’s trombone solo on the track has that breathy, burnished Teagarden quality — warm, bluesy and like he has all the time in the world. The familiar “Old Man River” loses the heavy, ceremonial weight most singers bring to it — she swings it hard, Jon-Erik Kellso’s trumpet racing through the melody right alongside her. “Everybody Loves My Baby” gets the same treatment — a tune most singers take slow, and she turns it into something that jumps out of the speakers.
Mark Lopeman’s horn arrangements are a big part of what makes this record work — they evoke Harlem nightlife and vintage swing without ever feeling like a costume. But it’s the individual moments that stay with you. “I Like Pie, I Like Cake” is a good place to just stop and listen to this band — there are great solos from the sax and piano, the bass and guitar trading phrases, tap dancer Michela Marino Lerman’s feet locking in with the rhythm section, and at one point Russell trades vocals with the band members, who it turns out can really sing. “Keep Your Mind On Me” tells its own little story — Evan Arntzen’s clarinet weaving motifs around Russell’s vocal, then soloing and playing with time, dragging notes out in a gorgeous way, while Kellso’s muted trumpet answers back trying to outdo him. It’s a draw, and a joy to listen to.
This is Catherine Russell doing exactly what she does best, in front of a live audience, with a band that matches her every step of the way. Put it on and try not to smile.
