Catherine Russell and Sean Mason

Outstanding Recording

My Ideal

Jazz/Blues vocalist Catherine Russell is a native New Yorker born into a musical family. Her father—pianist/composer and bandleader Luis Russell—was also Louis Armstrong’s long-time musical director. Her mother, Carline Ray, a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, performed with the all-female swing orchestra The International Sweethearts of Rhythm and as well as performing and/or recording with pianist/composer/arranger Mary Lou Williams, and orchestra leader/arranger Sy Oliver among others. Ms. Ray graduated from the Juilliard School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music and also worked for many years as a professional concert choral singer. Since the early 1990s, Catherine has had a career as a back-up singer, working with many artists including David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Jackson Browne, Michael Feinstein, and Steely Dan, with whom she still works. She has released nine solo albums, earning Grammy nominations for three of them—Harlem on My Mind, Alone Together, and My Ideal—in the Best Jazz Vocal category. She has been a featured artist with the Pasadena Pops, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the Houston Symphony.

Sean Mason, a renowned jazz pianist and composer, is celebrated for his innovative approach to and dynamic expression in piano artistry. A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Mason seamlessly blends jazz tradition with contemporary influences. His debut album, The Southern Suite, released by Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Blue Engine Records, showcases his compositional prowess with a stellar ensemble from his Juilliard days, earning critical acclaim from NPR and DownBeat. His latest project, My Ideal, a collaboration with GRAMMY®-nominated vocalist Catherine Russell, further cements his reputation as a gifted pianist. Mason has worked with such legends as Wynton Marsalis and Christian McBride and has contributed to Broadway productions, including Hadestown and Phantom of the Opera. Sean Mason is proud to be a distinguished Steinway Artist.