For the
2015
Montreal International Jazz Festival, the very talented
singer/songwriter Kat Edmonson did not perform the best song she
has ever written (“Nobody Knows That”), which must
have surprised and disappointed listeners who not only love the
song but also its drop-dead gorgeous piano solo as it was performed
during her memorable 2012 Austin City Limits concert. That solo,
compared to the unremarkable studio version, is a lesson with
a message: that if you work hard and long enough at something
it will eventually bear fruit.
But “nobody”
seemed to mind, which speaks to Kat Edmonson’s unforced
anti-diva, winsome ways on stage, the first-rate quality of her
songwriting, and ability to draw upon and combine diverse musical
elements. For her jazz festival Club Soda concert, she opted for
a ‘happy’ selection of songs, hitting all the right
notes in what turned out to be a memorably intimate evening of
sophisticated music that effortlessly and gracefully carves out
a homey niche between jazz and pop.
Edmonson
belongs to the category of stylish, throw-back, cross-over jazz
and pop singers that include Jill Barber, Corinne Bailey-Rae and
Holly Cole among others. They write most of their material that
easily competes with the occasional covers they refashion in their
own particular style.
Edmonson
combines exceptional compositional skills with a very unique and
affecting voice that is particularly strong in the mid range,
but, it must be said, is unusually thin at the very high end of
the scale (the last two or three notes just before falsetto kicks
in). Since her voice is so right for what she does, and its contrast
with her weaker voice a bit too noticeable, she should make a
point of staying within herself, which might mean staying away
from certain songs. Earlier in the day, I attended a press conference
with Huey Lewis who said that one of the things he’s learned
with age is to stay away from notes that he has no business singing.
Let’s hope it doesn’t take Edmonson, who is only in
her early 30s, as long as Huey to figure that out. And if we grant
that this might be a managerial matter, it goes without saying
that surrounding yourself with ‘yes’ people is never
a good career move.
But aside
from those occasional forays into the rough, Montrealers were
treated to a superlative evening of music making that was as heart-felt
as it was confessional: the singer draws deeply on her personal
life, and quest to find footing in a world that keeps shifting
or throwing up barriers to places she wants to enter but can’t.
We don’t so much feel that she is holding back but rather
that something is holding her back – perhaps shyness before
she became comfortable on stage. But like all great artists, she
is able to convert her self-doubts and insecurities, along with
her wishful thinking and secret longings, into the passions that
energize her creativity.
And it
all begins with her very special, endearing voice that wraps itself
around an audience like a wrap on a chilly day. In return, Edmonson’s
essential fragility is such that we want to wrap ourselves around
her, which is why we want her sets to never end.
Kat Edmonson
is a huge talent still looking for and deserving of a much larger
fan base. To her credit, she refuses to compromise her muse --
hasn’t given an inch to or incorporated the addictive rhythms
of rap and hip-hop into her catalog. She is totally at home in
and around the conservative side of jazz, and is steadfastly unapologetic
in her love of melody, even corny melodies we can’t get
enough of, such as in the song “Lucky.”
By staying
true and placid blue to herself, Kat Edmonson reminds us that
there will always be a place for well crafted, sincere, straight
to the heart music regardless of how out of vogue is the genre.
And if
you’re not already familiar with it, give a listen and then
some to “Nobody Knows That” (Austin City Limits version),
which is already, in my view, a modern classic that raises the
bar none.
