Kat Edmonson

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

Kat’s sixth studio album Holiday Swingin’! A Kat Edmonson Christmas Vol. 1 was released in November of 2021 and was included on the NY Times list of "13 Albums That Revisit (and Redefine!) Holiday Classics" and was described by Jazziz as "impeccably hip”. 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 performed 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 ran for 66 episodes.

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.”

Recently, 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.