It’s not what you say, but how you say it…
Catherine Russell has an easy to please delivery to her voice, bathed in early swing yet comfortable in modern sartorial styles. Here, backed by Matt Munisteri/g-dir, Tal Ronen/b, Mark McLean/dr, Mark Shane-Sean Mason/p, and a snazzy horn section, Russell is peppy on the juke jointed “ At The Swing Cats Ball” and two stepping on the floor during “Going Back To New Orleans”. Full fisted stride suites here well on “If I Could Be With You”, and she can shimmy like her sister Kate on “You Can Fly Hight” while also able to turn the light way down low on the mellow toned “In The Night”. Munisteri drapes her perfectly in soft guitar pastels on “East of The Sun” and taps into his inner Oscar Moore for a tasty “You Stepped Out Of A Dream”. Mason is in perfect stride for “Blue And Sentimental” while Jon-Erik Kelso blows out sweet treats on his trumpet on the fun “Sticks and Stones”. Is she ever coming to LA?
Hinda Hoffman guests as vocalist with the team of Chris Foreman/B3, Greg Rockingham/dr, Lee Rothenberg/g and Greg Ward/as through a mix of soulful standards. Hoffman has a Dinah Washington styled delivery, and it works well, even though her supporting team seems to try to overpower her on the thick sound of the shuffling “All Of You” or the hard hitting soul grooved read of “Old Devil Moon”. Ward’s alto is sweet on “Like A Lover” but the team pounds a bit to aggressively on “Angel Eyes” and the aggressive “Get Out Of Town”. Not every songs needs to be “Happy New Year”