Catherine Russell is a native New Yorker, born with an enviable musical pedigree. Her father, the late Luis Russell, was born in Panama and moved to New Orleans and then New York City, becoming a pioneering pianist/bandleader, and Louis Armstrong’s long-time musical director. Her mother, Carline Ray, is an outstanding bassist and vocalist and holder of advanced degrees from Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music, who has performed with Mary Lou Williams and Wynton Marsalis. Not surprisingly considering her roots, Catherine Russell is a one of a kind vocalist. She has toured the world, performing and recording with a wide array of trend setting artists, including Paul Simon, David Bowie, Steely Dan, Cyndi Lauper, Jackson Browne, Michael Feinstein, Carrie Smith, and Rosanne Cash.

Since the 2006 release of her debut album, Cat, on Harmonia Mundi’s World Village label, Catherine Russell has been making fans and friends and grabbing listeners by the ear. “She is a fresh and original voice. The most exciting debut album I’ve heard in a long time.” writes New York Sun critic and Sinatra biographer, Will Friedwald, who picked Cat among his top 10 cds of the year. “It’s a delight to hear the real thing in Catherine Russell.”, writes Nat Hentoff in The Wall Street Journal.

Ms. Russell has been a hit on major events like Rochester Int’l Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Bern International Jazz Festival, JVC-New York Jazz Festival, Detroit International Jazz Festival, Tanglewood Jazz Festival, Lotus Festival, and at premier venues like The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Sculler’s in Boston, The Dakota in Minneapolis, and The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and Yoshi’s in San Francisco. She has appeared on the nationally syndicated shows Mountain Stage, JazzSet on NPR, Studio 360, and The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS-TV. Reviews and profiles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Phoenix, Living Blues, Blues Review, Downbeat, Goldmine, No Depression, Boston Herald, Newark Star Ledger, JazzTimes, Chicago Sun Times, and many more.

Cat spent weeks on JazzWeek magazine’s chart for national airplay, while Back O Town Blues was a top 10 download on I-Tunes Jazz Chart. National Public Radio’s top 5 jazz cd’s of 2006 included Cat, as chosen by WBGO dj’s.

Catherine Russell’s 2nd album on World Village, Sentimental Streak, hit the streets on February 12, 2008, to universal acclaim, becoming a world-wide favorite of critics and fans alike. Catherine appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on NBC-TV, Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR, Beale Street Caravan, and in concert on CBC-Radio in Canada. Her 2nd cd reached the #3 position on I-Tunes Jazz Chart, while also charting on Billboard’s Jazz Chart, JazzWeek, and Living Blues Radio Chart. She recently won a prestigeous German Record Critics’ Award in the Jazz category and Living Blues magazine’s 2008 critics’ poll as “Artist Deserving More Attention.” L’Acadamie du Jazz in France chose Sentimental Streak as finaliste for Prix du Jazz Vocal 2008, while Grammy Award winning writer and jazz critic Francis Davis picked Sentimental Streak as Vocal Album of the Year in the 2008 Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll!

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.

Ms. Russell will be accompanied on piano by Mark Shane, whose  jazz piano is firmly rooted in the swinging tradition of jazz piano masters James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, Earl Hines and Art Tatum. Shane was house pianist in New York’s Eddie Condon’s jazz club and has played with Benny Goodman and many all star alumni from the great bands of Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller. Shane has been featured on radio and television jazz special broadcasts and has appeared as a featured soloist at major jazz festivals worldwide. He has toured for Columbia Artists and with the Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble. Featured in the 50th anniversary Benny Goodman memorial concert in Carnegie Hall, Shane has also played jazz piano for the Twyla Tharp Dance Company as well as for the Grammy
Award winning soundtrack, The Cotton Club, and other films.