Catherine Russell

Jazz and blues vocalist Catherine Russell, a native of New York City, was born with distinctive bloodlines. Her father was Luis Russell, the renowned big-band leader who was born in Panama and lived in New Orleans and New York City. He was a groundbreaking vintage jazzman -- a pianist, composer/arranger, and most prominently, the music director for Louis Armstrong in the mid-'40s. Her mother was Carline Ray, a veteran jazz bassist, vocalist, graduate of the Juilliard and Manhattan Schools of Music, and famous for performing with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Mary Lo...