With a fleet, airy delivery and an understated wit, jazz singer Kat Edmonson updates the repertoire and outlook of the Great American Songbook for contemporary listeners. Her independently issued 2009 debut, Take to the Sky, bridged Cole Porter standards with the atmospheric edge of the Cure, yet as the 2010s progressed she gradually introduced a larger share of self-written material across her recordings. By 2020 she shifted emphasis once more toward interpretations on the album Dreamers Do.
Born in Houston, Texas, Edmonson started composing while still a child. She spent some time at South Carolina’s College of Charleston before settling in Austin, Texas, to build a music career. Following an unsuccessful tryout for the second season of American Idol, she remained in Austin and refined her distinctive vocal approach.
The self-released Take to the Sky reached the upper reaches of the Billboard jazz chart in 2009. Three years afterward came Way Down Low, which peaked at number three on the jazz listing and topped the Heatseekers chart after receiving favorable coverage from NPR and The New York Times. Edmonson then joined the Sony Masterworks roster, and the label issued The Big Picture in 2014. Produced by Mitchell Froom, the album returned her to number one on the Heatseekers chart and rose to number two on the Jazz Albums chart.
She appeared as a vocalist in Woody Allen’s 2016 feature Café Society before completing her fourth album. Edmonson herself produced the resulting Old Fashioned Gal, released in 2018, which again placed her among the top three jazz albums. Two years later she collaborated with Aaron Thurston of the indie-rock band French Kicks as co-producer on the largely interpretive Dreamers Do. The set included a contribution from guitarist Bill Frisell on her reading of the Disney song “The Age of Not Believing” from Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
