Review: Catherine Russell Is Cheery & Charming at Jazz At Lincoln Center

If you go to a performance by smiling singer Catherine Russell, it’s kind of impossible for you not to smile yourself. The joy was palpable in her March 29th show at Jazz at Lincoln Center's wonderful Appel Room. Russell's glow lingers to defuse any blues that come through if she takes on a sad lyric.  In those rarer cases when she faces sorrows in lyrics, the predominant reaction can be to cheer her undoubted fortitude in persevering.  For example, in her attitude delivering “You Stayed Away Too Long” to an absentee lover, the impact is not to feel sorry for her having been hurt by someone whose attentiveness and presence she misses, but to think it’s the other person’s loss and cheer her on because she’s moved on.  

But, in general, she’s strolling on the sunny side of the street and the clouds above her, if any, have silver linings.  “I Just Refuse to Sing the Blues” she chirps with insouciance (although she’s smart enough not to be totally glib, cavalier, or Pollyanna-ish, leaving some suggestion that she’s resisting giving in to a normal bout of gloom.)   There’s a playfulness to her delivery that matches the sensibility of many of the lyrics that don’t treat romance or life in a heavy-handed manner.  It’s not a night for catharsis or angst.  No emotional roller coaster ride here — but rather a glide, smooth and diverting.  There isn’t much drama in a ditty that reveals in its key rhyming lines, “I like crackers, too/ Crumbled up in chicken stew.”   But it's fun to hear. 

Evident by her focused attentiveness and move-to-the-sounds body movements is the pleasure she takes in the song choices, digging the rhythms and the hip, swinging playing of the musicians, as well as enjoying the extra added attraction on several numbers: the complementary, deft work of a — wait for it — tap dancer!  Michaela Marino Lerman made the most of the limited space of a board placed on stage left, with easy-going but varied and lively steps and spins.  The  seven instrumentalists in the band are frequently watching each other’s solos, too, nodding appreciatively, rather than zoning out or hazing elsewhere, as happens in other shows.  And, gratifyingly, those solos are not self-indulgently showy and over-long, but benefit from a “Less is more” tightness policy, each contributing to the overall effectiveness of arrangements. 

The ingratiating and unpretentious Catherine Russell favors jazz and big band items from the early decades of the 20th century, with an emphasis on things that are fun and not overdone.  This has become her niche to some extent, and what a nice niche it is!  Old charmers in danger of being forgotten footnotes of musical history known only to the most dedicated scholars and collectors are brought back to vivacious life.  She explained that much in her current set list is drawing on songs championed by the Hot Club of New York, a group of fellow music enthusiasts who gather (in person and through Zoom) to share lesser-known vintage material. All the songs were first recorded on those fragile, heavy 78 rpm single records, perhaps not easily found in reissued collections in latter-day audio formats.  Some she belatedly discovered when she heard them on the radio, some have more sturdily stood the test of time, taken up by various bands and singers in quite different arrangements and styles in other decades, such the sweet “A Little on the Sentimental Side” which Billie Holiday got to.

Proud daughter carrying on the legacy and influence of musical parents, the reflective Russell brought up memories of bandleader dad, who worked with Louis Armstrong’s band and led his own group; one of the more unusual Luis Russell recorded treatments was a highlight of the program. Earning the biggest applause of the night, it was the most famous song included: “Ol’ Man River”  — but taken at a tempo that might shock some who’ve only heard it in its dirge-like, slow and serious original context.  Russell père and fille prefer that it “just keeps rollin’ along” at a super-fast roll.  You’d think that couldn’t possibly work, make sense, or be anything but cluelessly irreverent.  Wrong!  The vigorously racing tempo switches the focus, so that you don’t feel sorry for the suffering of the toiling and troubled narrator, but instead cheer the indomitable power of the river as a force of nature.  Well, spirited Catherine Russell is a force of nature herself — spreading happiness and joie de vivre.  

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The terrific musicians: Matt Munisteri (guitar); Ben Paterson (piano); Russell Hall (bass); Domo Branch (drums); Jon-Erik Kelso (trumpet); John Allred (trombone); Evan Arntzen (reeds).

More info at www.catherinerussell.net 

If you happen to be in Switzerland on April 12, you can catch her next gig…or wait a week and she’ll be back in the USA, with her next seven tour stops in seven different states, including a return to NYC. 

And here in that city that never sleeps (but swings), Jazz at Lincoln Center’s various performance spaces is busy with all kinds of jazz. Find more of their shows at www.jazz.org

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