Catherine Russell comes from a family of highly trained and successful jazz musicians. Her late father, Luis Russell, was a composer, arranger, pianist and longtime musical director for Louis Armstrong. Her bassist and vocalist mother, Carline Ray, still performs in New York and has two performance degrees. So it's no surprise that Russell can sing.
Russell sang with a laundry list of pop stars — David Bowie, Paul Simon, Jackson Browne — before releasing her debut album (Cat) in 2006. Her latest record, Sentimental Streak, features full-band arrangements, as she mines old songs and making them her own.
At Mountain Stage, Russell takes the audience on a musical journey that starts in the juke joint, swings through "New Orleans," stops by Broadway and comes to a close with a song about the culinary talents of her "Kitchen Man." She performs here with pianist Mark Shane.
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