Catherine Russell

Catherine Russell (born 1956) is an American jazz and blues singer. She is best known for her 2016 album Harlem on My Mind. Biography Early life Her father was Luis Russell, a Panamanian-born "pianist and leader of one of the most impressive big bands on the early New York jazz scene after leading a group in New Orleans and moving to Chicago, where he worked with King Oliver, who gave Louis Armstrong his first big break." He later became Louis Armstrong's long-time musical director. Her mother, Carline Ray, held degrees from both Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music and performed with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm following World War II. She later performed "with Doc Cheatham and Wynton Marsalis, among others." Russell's interest in music began as a child. As a young girl, she was "steeped in early jazz—from '20s and '30s recordings by her father's orchestras to '40s and '50s R&B." She was also enamored with country music—including the early George Jones, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, and Merle Haggard—as she liked "anything that swings."