Catherine Russell – A Valentine’s Day Show

Catherine Russell and her band brought spirit to Valentine’s Day at Birdland this year. An alternative to candlelight and mooning, Dixieland, swing, jazz, and blues provoked bobbing heads and chair dancing. The artist epitomizes her material. Without metaphorically breaking a sweat, she segues from one to the other genre performing songs in the style they were written. This is not to say the vocalist doesn’t add interpretive stamp, but rather that she and her band remain authentic.

“There’ll Be Some Changes Made” (Benton Overstreet/Billy Higgins) Russell sings, right arm extended in perpetual motion – fingers snap, hand grasps and releases, points, and pushes air (notes?). Step-tap, step-tap, she infectiously grooves. Ollie Jones’ “Send For Me,” title track of the performer’s latest CD, arrives with pronounced burlesque beat. Guitar weaves through as if skiing an obstacle course. Vocal fans out. Hot piano cuts its own path. ”Yeah!” “Whoo!” Russell declares.

John Alred, Jon-Erik Kelso, Evan Arntzen, Catherine Russell, Tal Ronan

There are two selections by the artist’s eminent father, Luis Carl Russell. “The Swing Cats Ball” (lyric-William Campbell) rolls in with bass pulse, classic lag, then jive. Evan Arntzen’s savory clarinet excels. (Watch the musician’s tongue dart out in preparation.) The undulating “Bocas del Toro” (lyric Herbert L. Levy) is galvanized by Luis’s Panamanian origin. “Makes you wanna have some rum,” the vocalist notes smiling.

Clara Smith’s “You Can’t Get It Now” has at-ti-tude. “I was crazy ‘bout choo/Gave you all my love/But
you can’t have it now,” sings a fed up mate.The lyric almost spits. Piano sashays. Trumpet is vivid, smooth, then seems to squeeze out music. “I think it’s time for some blues,” introduces Alton Redd’s “Let’s Get Together,” a start/stop number with both spoken word and wail. Trumpet lets it rip. Ross’s voice slip-slides, climbs and dips.

“You Stepped Out of a Dream” (Nacio Herb Brown/Gus Kahn) enters and exits on tiptoe. A honeyed “The Touch of Your Lips” (Ray Noble) is longlined. Hoagy Carmichael/Ned Washington’s “The Nearness of You” showcases John Alred’s warm trombone. (Who thinks of a trombone as warm?!) Circling brushes and light cymbals skirt beneath vibrato. A lush interlude. Mid-tempo, “Gone With the Wind” (Allie Wrubel/Herb Magidson) elicits horn-like vocal replete with mute. Guitar whirley-gigs, Sean Mason’s piano delivers Morse Code, brass stays in the shade.

Catherine Russell, Tal Ronan, Matt Munisteri, Mark McLean

A tightly bounced, Dixieland “Dr. Jazz” (Joe “King” Oliver), inspired by Jelly Roll Morton, features conversation between Tal Ronan’s cool bass and Mark McLean’s hummingbird percussion. “Teardrops From My Eyes” (Randy Tombs) was inspired by Ruth Brown “cause my mama Carlene Ray was her bass player.” ‘It’s decidedly melancholy, yet Russell appears optimistic her man will return.

The band is skilled and symbiotic. Every musician respects both roots and intention. Several fine Mark Lopeman arrangements add to those by Jon-Eric Kelso (also trumpet) and Matt Munisteri (MD/guitar).

I am, as you may have observed, a Catherine Russell Camp follower. Her voice shifts from flannel to shantung (slubbed silk) to shiny satin. Control appears as casually sustained as a shrug. The performer vibrates, taking us back, delivering the goods with neither fuss nor pretense.

Birdland
315 West 44 Street