Grammy-nominated jazz singer Catherine Russell headed to Ann Arbor Friday

Grammy-nominated vocalist Catherine Russell never intended to end up here.

The much-lauded and diversified singer initially set out to be a dancer; Friday, Oct. 10, she’ll sing her heart out onstage at Ann Arbor’s Blue Llama Jazz Club. (She doesn’t dance anymore.)

Jazz singer Catherine Russell.

For Russell, this will be her first Ann Arbor show in about 15 years, and her first at the Llama.

“I always do a mix of some songs I’ve recorded, some that I haven’t recorded – things that I might potentially record,” she said, “but it’s all a mix of jazz and blues from different eras. What keeps it fun is good material. I like to search for what I think is very interesting material – good melodies, good lyrics, fun atmosphere – so that the band is having a good time. So that the audience has a good time when they listen.

“That’s why I also like different vocal vocabularies, so I’m not singing everything the same way. We’ll go from a 1920s blues, which is sung differently than a swing tune from the ‘30s, which is sung differently from a blues from the ‘50s, that type of thing. I like a diverse experience for people, and for me and the band.”

Russell comes from a distinct jazz legacy: Her father, the late Luis Russell, was a renowned pianist, composer and bandleader who also served as Louis Armstrong’s longtime musical director. Her mother, Carline Ray, was a trailblazing vocalist, guitarist and bassist, known for her work with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Mary Lou Williams and Sy Oliver.

“We always had a lot of music playing in the house,” she recalled. “The first jazz that I really heard was my father’s recorded music, when I was very young, so that was music from the 1920s. We had a radio in the kitchen, so we listened to everything. Herbie Hancock’s ‘Maiden Voyage,’ which was station break music on a radio station we used to listen to quite a bit. And then we listened to what we’re now calling the Great American Songbook, all the popular singers from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald on another station, WNEW-AM.

“I really liked the sound of 1950s Miles Davis, for example. That was exciting. My mother was knowledgeable about everything, including opera and all eras of classical music, too. So we really listened to everything when I was growing up.”

This path has been full of surprises for Russell, who did not originally intend to be a singer and in fact put studied with the iconic Katherine Dunham’s dance academy as a youth.

“I didn’t know (I wanted to sing) until much later, because I had an ear for music, but translating that into singing in front of people … that took a long time. I didn’t really want to be the center of attention or anything like that. Some people naturally want to be in front of people and perform, but I started as a dancer, so I was one person in a dance troupe; it wasn’t like a featured thing. Much later, I sang in choirs, so that’s not a featured thing, either.

“But then, when I was in college, I joined the Reverend Daryl Coley’s choir, The New Generation Singers, because I was living in California at the time. Daryl really gave me the opportunity to lead a song in front of the choir, which was terrifying. But he said, ‘No, I want you to do this.’ So he really threw me into the deep end of the pool for the first time, developing my voice and teaching me that I could sing lead, which I didn’t know before that.”

After graduating with honors from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she went on to tour and record with an impressive roster of artists, including Carrie Smith, Steely Dan, David Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Jackson Browne, Michael Feinstein, Levon Helm, and Rosanne Cash. Her voice can be heard on more than 200 albums.

She didn’t make her debut recording as a solo jazz singer until 2006, launching to rave reviews.

“I was touring with David Bowie,” she said, “and then at the end of touring with him in 2004, my business partner and then-fiancée said, ‘You know, there’s one thing you haven’t done: your own albums.’ I didn’t know if that was a good idea, but he had a friend in the Chicago area with a studio who put a band together for me. So, we went out there and recorded.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

“We are really looking forward to coming to Ann Arbor,” she said. “I will have my band: Matt Munisteri, who’s my longtime musical director and guitarist, Ben Paterson on piano and Tal Ronen on bass. I’ll have a nice, swinging trio. The people will love them.

“I’m really looking forward to it; I’ve missed playing in that town for a long time. I’m grateful for the opportunity.”