Catherine Russell

Born in New York in 1956, Catherine Russell comes from a family directly linked to jazz: her father, Luis Russell, was a pianist and bandleader close to Louis Armstrong, and her mother, Carline Ray, was a musician trained at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music. Initially active as a chorister and multi-instrumentalist, Russell spent many years working in rock, soul, blues and pop contexts, notably with Steely Dan, Donald Fagen and David Bowie, and she also contributed to recordings by Madonna, Rosanne Cash and Cyndi Lauper. Her solo career took shape in the mid-2000s with Cat (2006), followed by Sentimental Streak (2008), Inside This Heart of Mine (2010), Strictly Romancin’ (2012), Bring It Back (2014), Harlem on My Mind (2016), Alone Together (2019) and Send For Me (2022). In 2024 she released My Ideal with pianist Sean Mason. Her repertoire draws on classic jazz, blues, swing, early rhythm and blues and American standards, focusing on songs from the 1920s to the 1950s, supple phrasing and very clear diction. Catherine Russell performs regularly on the club and festival circuit in the United States, Europe and beyond, in a format that keeps the African-American vocal tradition at its core.