Catherine Russell to Celebrate 70 At Jazz At Lincoln Center's Rose Theater With Cyndi Lauper

3x GRAMMY nominated vocalist Catherine Russell turns 70 this year, and she'll mark it with two nights at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater on October 2 and 3, 2026. The concerts gather longtime collaborators and friends, including special guest Cyndi Lauper, for a program built around the music, mentors, and moments that have shaped Russell's career.

The concerts come on the heels of the release of Russell's 10th album as a leader and first-ever live recording, Live At Jazz At Lincoln Center. Released in April of this year on Dot Time Records and timed with her return to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the project has received praise from major outlets and further solidified Russell's standing as one of the pre-eminent vocalists of her generation. A recent profile in JazzTimes noted that Russell 'continues making the music her own.' Jazzwise described the album as a 'jubilant celebration of vintage jazz and blues,' while DownBeat called it 'a memorable performance.' Paris Move remarked that 'she reminds us that the history of jazz is not a museum piece,' and Something Else's Preston Frazier stated that "Catherine Russell doesn't just sing these songs - she reactivates their circuitry, proving that when the language is spoken fluently, it never goes out of style.'

The album draws on Catherine's rich and diverse history starting with her well-known jazz lineage. Her mother, Carline Ray, played with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm and worked alongside Mary Lou Williams, Sy Oliver, and Ruth Brown. Her father, Luis Russell, led a big band that stood alongside those of Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington, and later was fronted by Louis Armstrong. That background runs through Russell's own work as a vocalist, bandleader, and educator, which, in addition to her work in the jazz genre, includes years working alongside iconic artists including David Bowie, Steely Dan, and Cyndi Lauper.

Russell and her band have had a busy year. Highlights of the year include performances at the Bern International Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Rochester International Jazz Festival, the Lowell Folk Festival, and the Detroit Jazz Festival. Her core band, appearing with her at Rose Theater in October, includes Matt Munisteri (musical director, guitar), Ben Paterson (piano, Hammond B3), Tal Ronen (bass), and Domo Branch (drums).

Russell appeared as guest vocalist with pianist and composer Kenny Barron at major European festivals in Santander, Spain and Marciac, France this year as well. She was the only guest vocalist on Barron's 2025 critically acclaimed album Songbook to contribute lyrics. Her feature, "Minor Blues Redux," has become the album's top streamed song. Songbook has been nominated for International Vocal Album at the Edison Jazz Awards in the Netherlands, with winners announced October 26.

Most recently in New York, guitarist and bandleader Louis Cato invited Russell as guest vocalist for a five-night run at Little Island exploring the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance. She also joined New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik (Russell was accompanied by Matt Munisteri) for a discussion and concert at Aspen Theatre in Aspen, Colorado, centered on Ella Fitzgerald's 1934 Apollo Theater debut.

Russell also performed duo shows with pianist and composer Sean Mason, drawing on their 2024 Grammy-nominated album My Ideal, and she continued her recurring collaboration with guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli and his trio. In March 2026, she hosted sold-out Jazz for Young People family shows at Rose Theater honoring Louis Armstrong, and later that spring contributed vocals to new compositions by veteran pianist Danilo Perez across three nights at Rose Theater, continuing a musical thread tied to her father's work.

For the October 2-3 shows, Russell and her band will perform songs from Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Elmore James, and others, joined by Cyndi Lauper. Lauper, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and composer of the Broadway musical Kinky Boots, has known Russell since 1993, when Russell joined Lauper's band as a backing vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. Russell toured internationally with Lauper's band through 1997 and appeared on Lauper's 1994 compilation 12 Deadly Cyns...And Then Some and her 1997 album Sisters Of Avalon, co-writing the track "Hot Gets A Little Cold." Lauper's song "Time After Time" has since been recorded by jazz artists including Miles Davis and Cassandra Wilson.

After the Rose Theater weekend, Russell returns to touring. In mid-November, she and her band will play six theaters across Spain. She'll then join Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis as guest vocalist for the band's first Scandinavian tour as part of Big Band Holidays. She closes out the year with eight shows at Rose Theater, again as guest vocalist alongside Georgia Heers, in Coming Home: Wynton Marsalis's final season leading Jazz at Lincoln Center. It has been an outstanding year for Russell, on stage and off.

LINEUP - Rose Theater, October 2-3, 2026