Kat Edmonson, from Austin, Texas, has been called, “memorable and contagious” by NPR and, “the most promising American jazz singer to come along since Cassandra Wilson”, The Boston Globe.
Growing up in Houston, Edmonson credits her mother for getting her acquainted with the Great American Songbook through records and movies played at home: from musicals with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye, and Bing Crosby to the songs of Gershwin, Porter, and Rodgers & Hart.
She began singing by the age of 3 or 4. By the time she was 9, she was writing songs. By high school, she was consuming music obsessively, but it wasn’t a career path yet. Then, at 19, she decided to try out for the second season of American Idol. She sang “Fever” and impressed the judges, making it all the way to the final 48 in Hollywood before getting the ax. Music continued to beckon, and she started singing – pop songs, her own compositions – in Austin. In June 2005, she found herself at a Monday night jam at the legendary Austin jazz club, the Elephant Room. It was there that she realized jazz was her calling.
Edmonson has had no formal training. Instead she has a preternaturally gifted voice, sense of rhythm, and ability to swing. Where other singers her age tend to belt out a tune, she retreats, nearly whispering the lyrics, with a timbre that recalls Blossom Dearie. With hypnotic elegance and a voice beyond her years, Edmonson borrows effortlessly from many musical styles-. From a delicate bossa nova reading of the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven’’ to a backbeat-laden interpretation of “Just One of Those Things”, her repertoire encompasses standards and also gives a nod to modern artists that have made an impact on the world’s musical landscape.
Her debut CD, Take To The Sky, produced by pianist Kevin Lovejoy, has made many national top 10 lists of 2009, become a top seller on iTunes and Amazon, and debuted at #21 on the Billboard charts. The album reached the top 10 on the jazz radio charts and has garnered wide critical acclaim. Grammywinning engineer Al Schmitt, who mixed the record, calls Edmonson, "the best new jazz singer I have heard in years.”
Constantly forging new artistic ground, Edmonson popped up on CNN and NPR with her video, Be the Change, a politically inspired song meant to generate interest in the 2008 primaries. Another original, “Lucky”, was recently used in an episode of the Showtime series The United States of Tara. Recent highlights from her touring schedule include: performing at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, opening for Boz Scaggs on his national tour, and singing a duet with Lyle Lovett and His Large Band.
"Equal parts Billie Holiday and Bjork, it is Edmonson's distinctive coyness that marks her as a vocalist of 2009, not merely a re-do of the 1930s." -All About Jazz
Kat Edmonson- vocals
John Ellis- tenor saxophone
Kevin Lovejoy- piano
Danton Boller- bass
JJ Johnson- drums
Chris Lovejoy- percussion
