Catherine Russell & Sean Mason - My Ideal
Catherine Russell & Sean Mason - My Ideal
(Dot Time Records, 2024)
Catherine Russell’s voice is so fine and her vocal style so accomplished that I want to believe that this is how Bessie Smith sounded live.
Russell comes by it all honestly. Her father, Luis Russell, was a legendary pianist / composer / bandleader, and Louis Armstrong's long-time musical director. Her mother, Carline Ray, was a ground-breaking vocalist / guitarist / bassist who performed with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Mary Lou Williams, and Sy Oliver. That is a potent family tree. The singer made a name for herself with her debut, Cat (Dot Time Records, 2009), fully consolidating her position as preeminent jazz vocalist with Bring It Back (Dot Time Records, 2014), Alone Together (Dot Time Records, 2019), and Send For Me (Dot Time Records, 2022).
Russell meets a soulmate in pianist Sean Mason, whose musical palate aligns closely with her own. Together on My Ideal, they make a rarified recording of old songs where the pair blow kisses in all directions. Singer and pianist open the recital with James P. Johnson and Andy Razaf’s 1930 “A Porter's Love Song to a Chambermaid” It is a splendid wink at both Johnson and Fats Waller. Later, the wink turns into a full bow to Waller with sexy and sassy performances of his “You Stayed Away Too Long” and “Ain’t Got Nobody To Grind My Coffee.”
Not content to remain prewar, the two take on Ray Charles and his gospel-infused rhythm and blues of “I Don’t Need No Doctor” and “Ain’t That Love.” The two glance off of Nat King Cole’s “You Can Depend On Me” en route to Bing Crosby’s “On The Sentimental Side” and Frank Sinatra’s “South To A Warmer Place.” Mason shows an impressive aptitude for whatever genre in which he finds himself. The synergy between Russell and Mason reaches eclipse on two numbers associated with Peggy Lee, “Waitin’ For The Train To Come In” and the title piece.
My Ideal is an echo informed by other duet recordings like Ella Fitzgerald's Gershwin recordings with Ellis Larkins, Tony Bennett's collaborations with Bill Evans, and Nina Simone's Nina Simone and Piano. Both intimate and wide open, Catherine Russell and Sean Mason make My Ideal an engrossing and entertaining recording by any measure.