Kat Edmonson @ Scat Jazz Lounge, 7.8.2009

Kat Edmonson is a wispy-voiced singer from Austin who takes a hip, modern, almost pop approach to standards and novelties (her repertoire includes a lounged-out cover of the Cure's "Just Like Heaven"), and pens worthy originals like "Lucky" (see the first clip below) and the upful, '70s Stevie Wonder-ish "Be the Change" (the second clip). Her promo schmatter caught my eye because her name conflates those of my sweetie and one of my best friends, while her bandleader-arranger-pianist has the same handle as the leader of a Dallas whiteguy bluesband I used to sit in with a decade-plus ago. (There are no coincidences.) Back in May, she made her Fort Worth debut, opening for Boz Scaggs at the Bass Hall. Next Wednesday, she brings a group including ex-Erykah Badu collaborator Ephraim Owens on trumpet to the Scat Jazz Lounge downtown. A good reason to get out of the house on a weeknight.