If you are unfamiliar with vocalist Catherine Russell, do yourself a big favor and check out her latest release, Send for Me, available here. If you are familiar with her, you have probably stopped reading by now and are on your way to to pick up this stellar release, if you haven’t already.

Catherine Russell
Send for Me (Dot Time Records)
A review
Is it possible that vocalist Catherine Russell and her band are getting even better? Hard to do, considering the high quality of their recordings to date. But their latest, Send for Me, has raised the bar that much higher, offering a generous helping of swing with side dishes of blues and R&B, and even a dash or two of early rock and roll.

The Swing Era comes alive from the first notes of the opening track, “Did I Remember,” but this is no tired reproduction of an antique art form. Russell’s performance vibrates with life and humor and love, and her expressive vocal skills are on full display. The pleasure she takes in singing transfers itself to you with a warm immediacy. You will feel the corners of your mouth turning up involuntarily, your breath coming more easily, and your pedal extremities tapping in time.

Russell’s performances remind us that the voice is an instrument—hers is as supple as it is muscular—and she plays that instrument with an uncanny rhythmic sense, incomparable phrasing, and remarkable control, never overplaying and always attentive to the smallest detail. Check out the title track, which, as Paul Kahn’s illuminating liner notes inform us, was a hit for Nat King Cole, who called his rendition “my first contribution to rock ’n’ roll repertoire.” Russell and the band follow his lead, with a fine arrangement from trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso. Listen to Russell’s release to the sax solo at 4:07, a thrilling fillip that gives a rhythmic lift to the incoming soloist. It’s a small detail, but it fills a transitional moment with life and energy.

The band includes some of the finest musicians on the scene. There are several familiar faces from Russell’s previous recordings, including Kellso, John Allred (trombone), Evan Arntzen (reeds), Matt Munisteri (guitar, banjo, musical director), Mark Shane (piano), Tal Ronen (bass), and Mark McLean (drums). Additional contributions are made by Sean Mason (piano), Paul Nedzela (bari sax), Mark Lopeman and Aaron Heick (tenor sax), and Philip Norris (tuba).

Munisteri tells me that “the sessions were so happy and relaxed—we were all very loose, having fun, with a nice sense of play, each take very different from the last, no one trying to ‘nail’ a certain thing.” That relaxed sense of play comes through loud and clear. There are instrumental highlights on every track, with particularly noteworthy performances by Kellso on “Did I Remember,” Munisteri on “Send for Me,” Allred on “At the Swing Cats Ball,” and Tal Ronen on “East of the Sun (and West of the Moon).”

Russell has a knack for selecting material that has been overlooked or fallen to the wayside over the years, and her personal connection to the selections inform every performance. The album offers a variety of mood, from the swing of “Did I Remember” and “At the Swing Cats Ball” to the relaxed sensuality of “Make It Last,” the nod to the New Orleans tradition on “Going Back to New Orleans” (with banjo and tuba adding the just right coloring, with a nice Latin section, as well), and the soul/R&B Earl King tune “You Can Fly High.” Uptempo/downtempo, hot/sweet, happy/sad, saucy/tender—Send for Me offers a satisfying range of feeling, style, and rhythm, all of it delivered with exceptional musicality.

This lady can sing!

P.S. You can get more Catherine Russell on Steven Bernstein’s excellent release Good Time Music, featuring his remarkable Millennial Territorial Orchestra—here.

P.P.S. If you are unfamiliar with Ms. Russell’s work, take a look at reviews here, here, here, and here.

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© 2022 Mel Minter