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
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.
In 2020, the vintage-pop and jazz artist was on a 40-city tour promoting her new critically acclaimed album Dreamers Do when the pandemic struck. Kat quickly transformed her living room into an attractive set where she performs live every Sunday night at 7PM ET. Drawing from her love of old variety shows, Kat dubbed her livestream The Kat Edmonson Show. Her modern-day variety show is a unique window into the magical world of Kat where she enjoys interacting with her fans.
Kat holds a deep and longstanding commitment to creating the highest quality recordings possible, working with multi-GRAMMY®-award-winning producers and audio engineer legends Frank Filipetti, Fernando Lodeiro, Ed Cherney, Phil Ramone, and the recording giant Al Schmitt (24-time-GRAMMY®-award-winner) who said of Kat, “She is a tremendous talent … with a style and charm that reaches fans in the worlds of blues, rock, pop, and beyond.”
In 2013, The Songwriters Hall of Fame awarded Kat the Abe Olman Scholarship Award for Excellence in Songwriting. “Intuitive about melody and handy with a turn of phrase (The New York Times), the songsmith has been writing ever since she was a little girl, having published over 40 songs to date. JAZZIZ magazine says, “…her lasting contribution might very well be her songs.” NPR says, “she's a savvy student of '60s film soundtracks, jazz-pop stylists and Brill Building songcraft, nodding to her influences at every turn. But her take on those stylized musical languages is so fresh and fluent that the referencing never feels cumbersome." Her original song “Lucky” was featured in the Coca-Cola “Footprints” ad from the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Kat’s fifth album, Dreamers Do (2020) combines mid-20th century Disney songs (from Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Mary Poppins, Babes in Toyland), with familiar classics (“What A Wonderful World” as well as “All I Do is Dream of You” from Singin’ in the Rain), and features two new, original songs (“Too Late to Dream” and “Someone’s In The House.”) The LP, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart, takes place in a single night, from bedtime till morning. “It's about our concepts around dreaming- all of the wonderful things, the fearful things, and the things that keep us awake in the middle of the night,” Kat explains of the music, “It's also about the quiet power of merely having a dream. There are interludes between the songs indicating different points in this nocturnal journey and if someone wants to listen to the entire record as an experience, it's available to them.” Of Dreamers Do, American Songwriter says, “terrific!” and UNCUT calls it a “Bewitching songcycle from a masterful vocalist.”
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.
The Texas native began crafting her signature sound while performing in Austin’s local club circuit for years before releasing her debut LP Take To The Sky in 2009. In addition to her own headline tours, Kat has gone on the road in support of Lyle Lovett, Chris Isaak, Gary Clark, Jr., Jaime Cullum, and Shawn Colvin, and has opened shows for Smokey Robinson, George Benson, Amos Lee, Michael Kiwanuka, Asleep at the Wheel, Nick Lowe, and Willie Nelson.
Kat Edmonson lives in New York.