Catherine Russell's Alone Together Receives Critical Acclaim, Rises on Charts

Catherine Russell's seventh studio album as a leader, Alone Together (released March 1 on Dot Time Records), is another step in the career of the versatile and timeless vocalist. Alone Together was the most added album in the first week of release on JazzWeek charts and became their #1 jazz album (now two weeks in a row); additionally, it debuted at #6 on the Billboard jazz charts, hit #1 best selling new vocal jazz release on Amazon, and "Is You Or Is You Ain't My Baby" hit #2 on the iTunes jazz songs chart. The momentum will continue with Russell's appearance in the upcoming feature film Bolden, as well as a run of dates with Steely Dan in the Spring and Fall, and some new performances added to her ongoing international tour (check tour schedule below for updated itinerary).

Drawing on composers and lyricists of The Great American Songbook—Irving Berlin, Eddie de Lange and Jimmy Van Heusen—along with songwriters from the Swing and Rhythm & Blues eras—Nat Cole, Louis Jordan, and Al Dubin and Harry Warren—Russell invigorates their creations on Alone Together. At the center is Russell’s voice, and while comparisons to Ella, Billie, Sarah, and Dinah abound—while flattering—she has a sound all her own.

In theaters on May 3, Russell will appear in the upcoming feature film, Bolden: a drama directed by Dan Pritzker, with music by Wynton Marsalis. The movie imagines the life of trumpeter Buddy Bolden, and the birth of jazz in New Orleans. The soundtrack album will be released on April 19 via Jazz at Lincoln Center's Blue Engine Records. Considering her pedigree (Her father, Luis Russell, and her mother, Carline Ray, were both pioneers of early jazz), it’s no surprise that Russell was cast to portray Lalique Lill, a madame who sings bordello blues. In addition to her singing and acting cameo in the film, she contributes vocals to the soundtrack album.

As noted on the Bolden website, “the birth of jazz was the birth of American popular culture, influencing everything that followed, from Louis Armstrong to Jimi Hendrix...Bolden is where it all began.” Catherine Russell embodies that continuum; a vocalist who curates material from the turn of the century to the present, who has recorded with David Bowie and been a member of his last touring band, and who as a child hung out with her parents at Louis Armstrong’s home.