A Fascinating Background

Catherine Russell will have a good time at Jazz Fest

BY CREE MCCREE

Catherine Russell may be making her Jazz Fest debut in 2023, but her New Orleans roots run deep. Her dad, Luis Russell, recorded with Louis Armstrong in 1929 and 1930 and served as Armstrong’s musical director from 1935 to 1940. She also contributed to Wynton Marsalis’s soundtrack for the 2019 docudrama “Bolden,” which explored the near-mythic life of Buddy Bolden, considered by many (including Armstrong) to be first person to play jazz.

Over the years, the Grammy-winning jazz and blues vocalist has been to town many times, but we didn’t cross paths before now—at least not in New Orleans.

Russell and I go way back in the New York music scene of the early ’90s, But, though I watched her perform years ago in New York, and recently saw her deliver a lively NPR Tiny Desk Concert, I didn’t know anything about Russell’s fascinating background until we finally met via Zoom in St. Louis, where she was in town playing the St. Louis Jazz Festival.

Do you actually make an appearance in the Bolden movie? I do. Playing a madam.

Oh, cool. I bet the costume was fabulous for that. The costume was fantastic. The high button boots that they had me in were great.

Have you spent much time in New Orleans? Yes. The first time I came here was for Doc Cheatham’s funeral, in 1997, and I stayed above Snug Harbor, right there on Frenchmen Street. I’ve been back for three or four Satchmo SummerFests in August, and I was just down there this past week for the Danny Barker Festival.

The first half of the 20th century is pretty much where I live. I love the songwriting [from that time]. I love the way that I have to sing those tunes and I gain a lot of strength from the character of women who sang them. At Jazz Fest, I’ll be playing Economy Hall, the traditional stage.

Will you have any local players with you? Not this time, no. I’ve got a great band and I’m bringing them with me. But I just worked with Dr. Michael White at the Danny Barker festival, I had a masterclass and a presentation, and I worked with Don Vappie too.

People can get a taste of your music on your latest CD, Good Time Music . Will you be selling that at the Fair Grounds? Yes. But what I’m really excited about is a new CD of my dad, Luis Russell’s music, of recordings that were sitting in my mother’s closet for about 70 years.

Oh my God. What a treasure trove. My husband Paul, who’s also my business partner and historian, had them restored and digitized and remastered. There’s a combination of live Luis Russell with Louis Armstrong between 1938 and 1940. Henry Red Allen and Paul Barbarin and Albert Nicholas, everybody’s on those. Also, the Luis Russell Orchestra and some Luis Russell solo piano pieces. A really beautiful compilation that Paul compiled from the things that I collected.

Your dad was originally from Panama. Have you been to Panama? Do you still have family there? Yes and yes, I did went to Panama the first time 15 years ago, 2008, and did the Panama Jazz Festival. And we just went in January—we did the Panama Jazz Festival again this year, and went to the Boca El Toro Archipelago, where my dad is from. He’s from the tiny islet of Karina Key and we stayed on the island for four days. It was fantastic. I actually stayed right where my dad was born and spent his childhood. I got to look at the same things my dad looked at as a boy.

Do you do any music from Panama? My dad co-wrote a tune called “Bocas del Toro” and we do that in my show. We found sheet music for that; he had a lot of sheet music of things that he’d never recorded, and I started to do the tune with my own band.

Are there other people you want to see while you’re at the Fair Grounds? I’ve heard about the gospel tent for decades. I’d love to do that because I came up partially in gospel music in my late teens. Also, brass bands. I was able to hear the Treme Brass Band when they played at the Danny Barker Festival, and we were dancing with the Baby Dolls.

The brass band tradition is something that my mother’s father grew up with. He was from Alabama, and a sousaphone player. I played a little bit of tuba when I was in my teens.

What should people expect when they come to see you in Economy Hall? Well, I love to have a good time. That’s the main thing I get out of the New Orleans tradition. We all have fun and people dance. O

Saturday May 6 at 11:15 a.m. Gospel Tent