Jazz, Blues & Soul all Fit Catherine Russell in Style at The Palace Theatre

By Mark Bialczak, Staff Writer

Catherine Russell told the crowd she remembered that night when she was 4 years old, the evening when Louis Armstrong himself picked her up in his famous arms and smiled widely at the daughter of his band leader.

That time at home with dad Luis Russell and mother Carline Ray was captured in glorious black and wide, to be flashed on the big movie screen before Russell and her stand-out band took the stage Saturday night at the Palace Theatre.

The home movie said so much. Like her late father and mother (who's still a vibrant bass player today), Russell is in love with music.

She fairly throbbed with passion and talent for the Jazz Appreciation month crowd brought together by the folks at Syracuse jazz radio station WAER. Russell told tales about the songs, and then she sang them with style and passion.

"You don't mind if I talk, do you?" Russell asked the crowd. For goodness sakes, no, not when the native of New York City was so charming.

She was a tad under the weather, so she set up her "medicine cabinet" on a stool to the side of her. A student came to a lesson sick this week, and then she didn't have any steam heat, either. Fear not, though, she said before taking a belt from a thermos and then belting out "Whiskey from the Shelf." It contained boiled ginger root, not the hard stuff. "Don't think I'm gettin' high up here, you all," she said.

That rush of intoxication was left for the fans in the seats as they drank in the work of Russell, piano player Mark Shane, upright bass player Lee Hudson and guitarist Chris Flory.

Mixing vintage jazz with from-the-gut blues and from-the-heart soul, Russell kept the fans bouncing their heads and clapping their hands.

She flipped on the power switch when she wanted to or took it soft and slow when she wanted to.

And she picked out an invigorating set list that included work from her current CD, "Sentimental Streak" such as the silky tribute written by Hoagie Carmichael, "New Orleans," Pearl Bailey sizzler "I'm Lazy That's All" and wink-wink bedroom ode "Kitchen Man."

Throw in the magic of Fats Waller's "The Joint is Jumpin'," the flaming soul of Sam Cooke's "Put Me Down Easy," and the finger-snapping swing of the classic "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey," and it was an eclectic portrait that framed the far-ranging majesty of American music.

Like Russell told the crowd, jazz came from the blues. "And both of them have plenty of soul in them," she said.

She gave the crowd the opportunity to appreciate them all.

Much like Russell holds so many different styles, artists and tunes so close to her heart.

She's got two CDs to her credit, and many to go, she promised.

"I'm going to keep recording until I get to everything I like," she said.

Source: Syracuse.com