Kat Edmonson

Kat Edmonson

Musicians | Instrument: Vocals | Location: New York City

"Dreamy... sounds both vintage and timeless" 

—JAZZTIMES

Updated: January 12, 2024

Born: August 3, 1983

Kat Edmonson is an award-winning songwriter and singer "with an equal foothold in jazz, cabaret and vintage cosmopolitanism pop" (The New York Times).  She has been featured on Austin City Limits, Tiny Desk Concerts, A Prairie Home Companion, and The Late Show.

The New York Times describes her music as “fresh as a spring bouquet” while NPR says, “Hearing Edmonson makes it virtually impossible to do anything but stop and listen.”

Raised on the music and film of the early-to-mid-twentieth century, Kat is a rare artist who embodies the spirit of the past while remaining resolutely au courant. She performs original songs and familair classics in her live show, interweaving humorous anecdotes, philosophical musings, and her love of film with disarming candor and vulnerability. Her longtime band members’ keen and sensitive accompaniment allows Kat to freely veer off-script as she’s often inclined to do

Kat is equally comfortable on the stage, in the recording studio, on a movie set, or recording The Kat Edmonson Show from the intimacy of her own home. She has played major stages across the United States, Europe, and Asia from Carnegie Hall to the Montreux Jazz Festival to the Blue Note in Japan. In 2016, she appeared in Woody Allen’s Cafe Society as a 1930s jazz singer and was highlighted on the official soundtrack performing her version of “Mountain Greenery.” Her experience in Allen’s film inspired the artist to study the craft of acting. She subsequently spent two years in conservatory at The William Esper Studio in New York City.

In the winter of 2022, Kat made her theatrical debut in "The Hang": a new jazz opera by Taylor Mac and Matt Ray. Upon its opening, the off-off Broadway show received "Critic's Pick" in The New York Times highlighting Kat's "extraordinary artistry." About her performance, Vulture praises the burgeoning actress for her "weightless, soaring scat arias," The Wrap says, "Kat Edmonson emerges as the Teresa Stratus of off-off Broadway." "The Hang" imagines the final hours of the life of Socrates as he asks his friends to use every moment left to think on virtue.

Kat’s sixth studio album  Holiday Swingin’! A Kat Edmonson Christmas Vol. 1 was released November 19th, 2021. The jazz-vocalist and her band recorded a Christmas album including Yule-tide favorites such as “Jingle Bell Rock”, “O Christmas Tree”, and “Let It Snow”. Holiday Swingin'! was included on the NY Times list of "13 Albums That Revisit (and Redefine!) Holiday Classics" and was described by Jazziz as "impeccably hip".  “I was inspired to record music that harkened back to my favorite '50s and '60s holiday tunes. The band and I had a ball swingin’ on all these classic songs!” says Kat.

Read more

Tags

All About Jazz Articles

1
Radio & Podcasts

There Will Be Christmas - More Holiday Releases Plus A Salute To Winter Solstice

Read "There Will Be Christmas - More Holiday Releases Plus A Salute To Winter Solstice" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


This broadcast presents more music to celebrate the season, with new releases from Kat Edmonson, Deb Bowman, Carolyn Lee Jones and The Bird & the Bee, with birthday shoutouts to singer pianist Una Mae Carlisle (protege of Fats Waller), celebrations of the Winter Solstice and more. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by purchasing their music during this time of pandemic so they can continue to distract, comfort and inspire. Playlist Javon Jackson “Santa ...

1
Radio & Podcasts

New Releases With Birthday Shoutouts to Regina Carter, Dorothy Ashby, Abbey Lincoln and More

Read "New Releases With Birthday Shoutouts to Regina Carter, Dorothy Ashby, Abbey Lincoln and More" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


This broadcast presents new releases from marimbaist Jenny Klukken, Kevin Hays, Ben Street & Billy Hart, bassist Ilana Lipsztein, Cory Weeds Nightcrawlers and saxophonist Dennis Mitcheltree with birthday shoutouts to Regina Carter, Dorothy Ashby, Abbey Lincoln, KJ Denhert, Kat Edmonson and Kat Gang, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by purchasing their music during this time of pandemic. Playlist Linda Dachtyl “Happy To Be" from A Late One (Summit) 00:00 KJ Denhert ...

1
Radio & Podcasts

Kat Edmonson on the quiet power of having a dream

Read "Kat Edmonson on the quiet power of having a dream" reviewed by Leo Sidran


In this podcast interview, singer/songwriter/actress Kat Edmonson details her journey out of the Lone Star State and into the Big Apple, her love of old well-made things, working with Woody Allen and Al Schmitt, listening to Blossom Dearie, loving “the limitations in a room," acting vs singing, her new record Dreamers Do, and not asking permission. Plus, why she calls her music “vintage pop." ...

1
Radio & Podcasts

A Musical Tribute to Laziness

Read "A Musical Tribute to Laziness" reviewed by H William Stine


I was feeling too lazy to come up with a theme for this week until I suddenly realized that I...well, I'm sure you're way ahead of me now so I'll stop there. Below is the playlist of the laziest songs, laziest excuses, and laziest fantasies I could squeeze into two hours, though I'm sure you'll agree that lazy is definitely not a word that applies to any of the singers and musicians. Playlist Cody Owen Stine “Paris ...

511
Album Review

Kat Edmonson: Take To The Sky

Read "Take To The Sky" reviewed by Holly Holmes


Jazz vocalist Kat Edmonson summed up her musical philosophy best when she told journalist Joey Guerra, “I just think good music is good music." The Austin-based singer's album Take To The Sky draws half of its repertoire from America's most timeless Tin Pan Alley songwriters, including the Gershwins and Cole Porter. The other half of the album draws from a wide range of contemporary popular songwriters, including the Cure and John Lennon.This strategy of mixing the classic with ...

Read more articles

Articles Across the Web

...or were mentioned in an All About Jazz article.

1

Performance / Tour

Jazz this week: Kat Edmonson, Houston Person, Dave Dickey Big Band, and more

Jazz this week: Kat Edmonson, Houston Person, Dave Dickey Big Band, and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

While goblins, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and zombies may rule the upcoming Halloween weekend, there's also plenty of live jazz and creative music to be found in and around St. Louis over the next few days. Here's a brief look at some of the most noteworthy shows... Wednesday, October 28 Multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris and singer Anita Jackson will team up for the first of two nights of what's billed as a tribute to Nina Simone at Jazz at the Bistro. Thursday, ...

106

Radio

The Jazz Session #107: Kat Edmonson

The Jazz Session #107: Kat Edmonson

Source: Michael Ricci

Kat Edmonson is making a name for herself as both a smart interpreter of popular songs (both old and new) and as a musician who puts her values into practice in her art. Edmonson's debut CD, Take To The Sky (Convivium Records, 2009) features creative reworkings of tunes by Carol King, The Cure and The Cardigans, alongside (un)expected versions of Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Henry Mancini. In this interview, Edmonson talks about her years of apprenticeship in Austin, TX; ...

159

Performance / Tour

Kat Edmonson at Jazz Standard

Kat Edmonson at Jazz Standard

Source: DL Media

Kat EdmonsonSet to Perform at Jazz Standard, November 11Austin-based vocalist Kat Edmonson will perform with her sextet--tenor saxophonist John Ellis, pianist Kevin Lovejoy, bassist Danton Boller, drummer JJ Johnson and percussionist Chris Lovejoy--on Wednesday, November 11 at Jazz Standard. Edmonson made her debut at the venue in May while on a northeast tour with her Austin-based band.Nate Chinen of The New York Times says Edmonson “is a promising young jazz singer with a kittenish voice ...

172

Festival

Kat Edmonson Sextet to Perform at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival Sept 6

Kat Edmonson Sextet to Perform at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival Sept 6

Source: Dawn Singh Publicity

THE KAT EDMONSON SEXTET ADDED TO THE JAZZ CAFE AT THE TANGLEWOOD JAZZ FESTIVAL Vocalist Kat Edmonson and her Sextet will perform on Sunday, Sept 6, at 12:30 pm in the Jazz Cafe at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts. The Austin-based vocalist made her Northeast debut in June at the Jazz Standard in New York. Edmonson’s first CD, Take to the Sky, includes selections from Cole Porter, Henry Mancini, John Lennon and Carol King. “Take to the Sky” ...

"An oasis of hope, excitement and optimism" -DOWNBEAT

"Fresh as a spring bouquet" -The New York TImes

“Hearing Edmonson makes it virtually impossible to do anything but stop and listen.” -NPR

"Hypnotic elegance and a voice beyond her years" - The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Unfailingly sophisticated... a salve for these unsettling times" -UNCUT 

"Dreamy... sounds both vintage and timeless" -JAZZTIMES

"Kat Edmonson is the best new jazz singer I have heard in years and I know she will be around for years to come." —Al Schmitt, 19-time Grammy winning producer and engineer

Read more

Artists who share similar musical characteristics to Kat Edmonson.

Contact

Publicist

Sacks and Co.

Management and booking

Epstein Fox Performances | Mike Epstein | [email protected]

Concerts

  Sat, Apr 6
Dennis, MA
Kat Edmonson
Cape Cinema
Sat, Apr 6. 7:00 pm
Apr6Sat

Music