(Reprinted from the February 2022 issue of New York City Jazz Record)
Jazz singer Maria Hawkins—who sang under the name Maria Ellington—fronted many notable swing bands in the 1940s. Leaders Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington all courted her talent. She was opening for the Mills Brothers as a solo act at Club Zanzibar in Manhattan in 1946 when she met Nat King Cole, who had been called in to sub for the popular quartet. Two years later, the two singers were married by Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. at Harlem’s famed Abyssinian Baptist Church.
The couple’s daughter, Natalie Cole, born this month 72 years ago, deserves enormous credit for the revival of the Great American Songbook in the 1990s. Her 1991 album Unforgettable…With Love (Elektra) featured well over 150 studio musicians on 22 standards popularized by her father decades earlier, going on to take top honors in a brand new Grammy category in 1992: Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. The chart-peaking hit from that record—Natalie’s duet with her late father on a digital version of his 1952 single “Unforgettable”—would endure not only as one of the decade’s most popular songs, but as a technological game-changer. This month, to mark the 30th anniversary of this multi-platinum phenomenon, Craft Editions is re-releasing Unforgettable…With Love in multiple formats—including a 2-LP vinyl set in 1990s purple.
After Unforgettable…With Love, Natalie would turn out many more studio albums affirming her appreciation of all things Songbook, without ever fully returning to the R&B pop tracks that had earned her fame in the ‘70s and ‘80s. In 2008, she recorded Still Unforgettable (DMI/Atco), featuring “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home”, another virtual duet with her father. For this record Natalie, who passed away in 2015, would earn her final Grammy, and her second in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance category.
Singer Catherine Russell, too, descends from two consequential jazz figures: Her father, pianist Luis Russell, worked as Louis Armstrong's musical director for years, and her mother, Carline Ray, made history as a vocalist and instrumentalist with the revolutionary band, International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Russell is an undeniable talent in her own standing, too, with credits that extend from backup vocalist for scores of big pop acts (Madonna, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross) to her own acclaimed solo releases (seven and counting) and a Grammy for her work on the soundtrack album for the HBO-TV series, Boardwalk Empire.
Russell’s latest album, Send For Me (Dot Time), takes as its title cut a hefty blues track that Nat King Cole recorded in 1957. In a filmed performance from that time, Cole describes it as his “first contribution to the rock-and-roll repertoire”, before citing sales of half a million in one week. Russell approaches the tune differently, with more drag and an intuitive leaning toward traditional blues. Her deep voice, both familiar and reserved, wraps each syllable in a subtle warmth—it’s a refreshing, modern take on this classic.
This month at Birdland, Russell will celebrate Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras and the album’s impending launch, slated for April, all in one go. She plays with her septet on Feb. 14 (Valentine’s Day for Lovers) and Feb. 15 (New Orleans Carnival); she sings in trio formation with Carolyn Leonhart and LaTanya Hall, her fellow vocalists from Steely Dan, on Feb. 16 (The Danettes Valentine); she goes solo with the quartet on Feb. 17 (An Intimate Valentine); and she presents the album release concert on Feb. 18-19. Just a few days later, on Feb. 28, she appears at Atlantic Brooklyn with trumpeter Steven Bernstein and his Millennial Territory Orchestra, recreating her dynamic performances from the group’s January release, Good Time Music (Community Music, Vol. 2).
In this same spirit of romantic abundance: Gregory Porter will present his annual Valentine’s Day concert at the lush Brooklyn Kings Theatre on Feb. 12, with guests Kurt Elling and Samara Joy. Dianne Reeves takes to JALC’s Rose Theater with Let's Fall In Love on Feb. 11-12. Svetlana's Big Band offers a Special Valentine's Day Eve Show at Birdland on Feb. 13. And Samara Joy sings standards on the Day of Love itself at Dizzy's.
Romance aside, Sachal Vasandani claims several gigs this month—at Django (Feb. 16), Mezzrow (Feb. 27) and Dizzy’s (Feb. 28). His Edition label mate, Gretchen Parlato, headlines at Blue Note Feb. 21-23. And the extraordinary Meshell Ndegeocello kicks off her Symphony Space residency on Feb. 24.