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Catherine Russell Quartet
October 15, 2022 @ 8:00 pm
This is an in-person event, there will NOT be a livestream. Masks are required.
One of the greatest interpreters and performers of American popular song, Catherine Russell earned a Grammy-award as a featured artist on the soundtrack album for the HBO-TV series Boardwalk Empire. She plays music that evokes her familial heritage as jazz royalty. Russell’s father, the late Luis Russell, was a legendary pianist who served for many years as Louis Armstrong’s musical director. Her mother, the late Carline Ray, was a pioneering multi-instrumentalist who performed with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Mary Lou Williams, and Sy Oliver.
Catherine Russell can be heard on over 200 recordings and has toured and recorded with Steely Dan, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Jackson Browne, Michael Feinstein, Levon Helm, Toshi Reagon and Rosanne Cash, among others.
While introducing songs for her NPR Tiny Desk concert, Russell reminisced about her choice of material, saying: “I am inspired by the Black, blues-women of the 1920s, so I do a lot of that kind of material [including] Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Ethel Waters and so forth.” These influences shine through her interpretations of their songs and are imbued with respect, love and truth. Russell has absorbed the magic of the jazz legends she grew up with, and has incorporated the early blues and jazz styles so thoroughly that they have become an intrinsic part of her personality. In Russell’s hands, music from the 1920s is presented as a living art form.
Note: this show is in-person only, there will be no livestream.
—Boston Herald
