Kat Edmonson

"You see a show like the one Kat Edmonson put on Tuesday night at Scullers, and you wonder what the heck people are doing at Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry concerts. Really, the world is unjust... Edmonson, a petite singer from Austin, Texas, is at once a throwback and a pioneer. Her intimate vocal style and stage presence recall the heyday of jazz - she has the expressiveness of Billie Holiday, the elegance of Ella Fitzgerald, and the voice of Blossom Dearie. Yet she doesn't merely retread standards. Sure, she likes her Cole Porter, but she and her pianist/arranger, Kevin Lovejoy, molded and modernized chestnuts like "Just One of Those Things," "Night and Day," and "It's All Right With Me" into entirely fresh tunes with new harmonies, inventive rhythm structures, and sometimes mysterious undertones. Edmonson has grown quite comfortable inside these songs, taking even more liberties with them than she did on her recent CD, Take to the Sky, which stands among the best records of 2009. Like Holiday, Edmonson likes to sing just behind the beat, which infuses her demure voice with drama and heartbreak. Kat Edmonson is our next great jazz singer.